Vampyr
by afitwilight
Summary: The team's new case takes some turns into the area of weird. Maybe all the legends of "Dracula" make not be as make believed as it seems. Now the team is forced to fight for their lives and for the lives of their loved ones. N/S G/C


Vegas nights were always full of excitement and tonight was no exception. A couple walked out of the Joker's Casino. The man was about six three with short brown hair. He glanced at his girlfriend, who was about six inches shorter than he was with blonde hair. "Are you cold?" He asked her knowing full well that was the reason why she was shivering. She glanced up at him and nodded. "Yeah. I should have worn my jacket." The man took off his leather jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. "How's that?"  
She smiled at him. "Much better." They began to walk along the boardwalk and suddenly heard a loud scream. "Somebody help me!!" They took once glance at each other and quickly ran to the source of the scream. There in a dark alley a man was attacking a woman. He had her against the wall. He was about to hit her again when he noticed the couple walking toward him. "Well now what do we have here?"  
"Let her go."  
"Why should I?" He replied and then suddenly he let the girl go. He then walked toward the couple.  
"Don't come any further or I will be forced to hurt you."   
Alley man laughed. "Hurt me. I think it's the other way around." Before the other man could argue, alley man attacked him and knocked him to the ground.  
The blonde woman was so involved with what was happening with her boyfriend; she didn't even notice the other woman sneaking up behind her. She turned around too late and was hit in the head with a board.  
  
Jim Brass hated his job sometimes. He knew he should have stayed home tonight but duty calls and here he was in an alley in Vegas. Two bodies were lying dead in front of him. He watched as the paramedics swarmed around the bodies. Gil Grissom walked up beside him. "What have we got?"  
Brass looked at him. "Two dead bodies with massive blood loss."  
"Any witnesses?"  
"Not a one." He gave Grissom a slight frown. "Looks like you are going to have to work harder."  
Grissom watched as the paramedics got up and walked away. They stopped in front of Brass. "There's nothing we can do. I'll call David to come and get the body." The paramedics then got in their ambulance and drove away. A Tahoe pulled up right as the ambulance was leaving. Nick and Catherine stepped out. They walked up to Grissom. "We got your page. What's going on?"  
Grissom pointed to the bodies and explained what very little he knew. The three then began to gather evidence. Nick walked up to the man's body. "Have they been identified yet?"  
"They are Marc Richards and Sue Ellen Miles." Brass informed him. "Nothing was taken from their wallets."  
Catherine walked up to Sue Ellen's body. "I guess that rules out robbery." She pulled up her camera and began taking several photos of the bodies and the alley around them. Catherine was taking a head shot when she noticed something odd on the neck of Sue Ellen. "Hey guys, come take a look at this."  
The three men walked over to where she was. They glanced down and noticed what Catherine saw. There were two puncture marks on the necks of both victims. Nick looked at Grissom. "Wild animal attack?"  
"I don't know. We'll have to let Doc. Robbins look at it closer."  
Nick and Catherine continued to try and gather evidence on and around the bodies. David walked in. "Hey guys, are you done with the bodies?"  
Catherine smiled at him. "Yeah, you can take them now."  
David and another coroner came and began loading the bodies on a stretcher. Soon both bodies were being taken back to Doc. Robbins.  
Grissom, Nick, and Catherine decided to head back to the lab and work on what little evidence they collected.  
  
On the other side of town, Warrick and Sara were heading to another crime scene. Warrick pulled the Tahoe into the parking lot of a store. Police cars were already present along with paramedics. Warrick and Sara got out of the Tahoe and headed toward the store. They flashed their ids at the cop standing by the crime scene tape. He nodded and lifted the tape up, allowing them to go under. Warrick got his first look at the scene. Before him lay a body of a young woman. She was lying face up with her eyes wide open. Warrick turned around and focused his attention on one of the cops. "What happened?"  
The cop, whose badge indicated him as Styles, answered. "We received a 911 call from the owner of the store saying that he heard screaming outside."  
Sara walked up to them. She had her field kit in one hand and a camera around her neck. "Where's the store owner now?"  
Styles pointed over toward an elderly man sitting on the curb. "He's pretty freaked out. I'm not sure how much help he will be."  
Warrick nodded. "Thanks." He then turned his attention to Sara. "You want to process evidence or talk to the man?"  
She didn't hesitate in her answer. "Evidence." She gave him a quick smile and walked toward the body. Warrick figured as much. He walked toward the older man. "Excuse me sir. I'm Warrick Brown. Do you mind if I ask you some questions?"  
The elderly man glanced up. His hair was white and the glasses on his face made him look like he was at least seventy. He finally shook his head. "I don't know how I can help you."  
"Mr.?"   
"Mr. Perry."  
"Mr. Perry, can you tell me what you heard?"  
Perry took in a deep breath and stood up. His head was starting to hurt from having to look up. "I was closing my store early. Tonya was the last customer I had."  
Perry stopped and watched as the coroner began to take her body away. After a few silent moments he began talking again. "I was locking up the doors in the back when I heard her scream. I came out as soon as I could and I found her on the ground. I tried to wake her up but she wasn't moving. I quickly ran inside and called 911."  
Warrick could tell that the old man was upset. "Did you happen to see anyone else?"  
"No, they must have run off when they heard me coming."  
"Thanks, Mr. Perry. If we have any more questions, we will call you." Warrick made his way back to Sara. She was putting her stuff back in her field kit.  
"Find anything?"  
Sara frowned. "The only thing I found that was odd was bite marks on her neck."  
"Bite marks?"  
"Probably from an animal. Maybe a dog." Sara slung her camera off her neck. "I got some close pictures of the marks. We might be able to find some kind of match."  
Warrick didn't think it would that simple but he stayed silent. "I guess we head back to the lab. Doc. Robbins will probably be able to tell us more about the marks and how she died."  
They began to walk back toward the Tahoe. "You know, she didn't have any other marks on her. She still had her purse."  
Warrick opened the door to the driver's side and got in. "Well, we'll know more soon."  
Sara got in on the other side and soon they were off heading back toward the lab.  
  
Doc. Robbins had Marc and Sue Ellen's bodies before him. He was about to begin the autopsy, when Grissom and Nick walked in. "I figured you would show up." He told them.  
Robbins began his examination on Marc. He paid close attention to the bite marks in the neck. He bent down closer and noticed that the marks looked wet. "Will one of you hand me a swab?"  
Nick walked over to his table and grabbed a swab. He handed it to Robbins. "What did you find?"  
Robbins carefully rubbed over the area with the swab. "I'm not sure, but I'm sure Greg will be able to tell you."  
He handed he swab back to Nick. Nick took it. "I'll go give this to him." He walked out of the room leaving the other two men.   
"What can you tell me about the marks?" asked Grissom.  
"They weren't made from an animal."  
"How can you tell?" Grissom was an expert on bugs, but not on other animals.   
Robbins pointed to them. "The body is too clean to be done by an animal. I haven't noticed any kind of claw marks to suggest that an animal did this."  
"Than what did?"  
"That's your job." Robbins replied and went to begin his autopsy.  
  
Greg was sitting in his lab listening to Linkin Park. Catherine had come in earlier giving him some fiber samples to go over. He was using the microscope when Nick came in. "Hey Greg, I need you to run this for me."  
Greg looked up. "What is it?"  
"Something Robbins pulled off one of the victims." He handed the swab to Greg. Greg took it to another table and began to process it.   
Warrick walked in. "Hey Greg, I need to you to run some samples for me." He glanced over at Nick. "Hey man, how's it going?"  
"Not too bad, just a weird case. How about you?"  
"Same here. The dead girl's body had bite marks on it."  
Nick and Greg both looked over at him. Nick spoke first. "Ours did too. Robbins is working on them now."  
"Weird. Anyway, Sara got some pictures. We are going to see if we can find an animal that will match the marks."  
Nick smiled at the mention of Sara's name. "Where is she?"  
"Um, computer lab I think."  
Nick turned to Greg. "Page me when you get the results okay." Before Greg could respond Nick was out the door and in search for his fiancée. He walked around until he found her in the lab right in front of the computer. He came up behind her and put his arms around her. "Hey."  
Sara smiled. She turned around to face him. "Hey." That's all she could get out before Nick's lips were upon hers. Their kiss lasted until they were both out of breath. "What are you doing?" Sara asked, still a little breathless.  
"Warrick told me you were here. He also told me about your victim. Ours was the same way."  
"You think we're on the same case?" Sara really hoped so. She hated not working with Nick. Of course it wasn't like they didn't see each other. They lived together in their new house. Nick had surprised her and took her to it. She loved it the instant she saw it. They had a cookout after they moved in and told everyone about their house.   
"It's looking that way." Before Sara could say anything more, Warrick walked in. "Find anything on the computer yet?"  
"Nope, I'm still looking. Nick was telling me that we might be on the case."  
Warrick nodded. "Yeah, Greg is running the samples. Maybe we will soon have something to go by."  
Sara focused her attention back on the computer. Nick and Warrick decided to go and see if Grissom had learned anything from Robbins. They told Sara good-bye and left the lab.  
  
Catherine was examining the clothes of the victims. So far she hadn't found anything. Grissom came in and watched her for a moment. He didn't know when there was a time he didn't love the woman in front of him. He was so happy that they were finally together. He absolutely loved her and Lindsey.   
Catherine felt someone watching her, so she looked up and noticed Grissom standing there. "How long have you been there?"  
"Not long. How's the search going?" He asked and walked up beside her.   
"Not good." She looked from the clothes back up to him. Her eyes locked onto his. She couldn't help but smile. She loved this man with all of her heart. She was so happy when they finally got together. Plus Lindsey adores him. Grissom only nodded and soon he leaned over and kissed her. Careful of not touching any of the evidence, he pushed her against the table and wrapped his arms around her. He finally pulled away from her. "Does that help any?"  
She grinned. "It didn't help with the evidence, but it sure helped me."  
Nick and Warrick chose that time to walk in. "Hey Griss." Warrick said. "I thought you might like to know that we are probably on the same case." He told Grissom about Tonya. Grissom inhaled deeply. "Sara is searching the web for animal bites."  
"You can tell her to stop. The good doctor already informed me that it wasn't done by an animal."  
Nick jumped at the chance. "I'll go." With that he raced out the door.  
Grissom smiled. "You know Warrick, if Jasmine worked here also, we would never get anything done."  
Jasmine was Warrick's girlfriend. She worked in a doctor's office. Warrick grinned. "Don't worry I don't think she would want to work here."  
Catherine's pager went off. She looked down and noticed it said Master Greg. Yeah right, she thought to herself. Out loud she replied, "that's Greg, he must have my samples done."  
All three of them decided to see what Greg found out.  
  
Back in the lab, Greg was listening to 3rd Strike. He turned the music off when he saw Grissom coming. Catherine, Grissom, and Warrick walked in. Nick and Sara were right behind them. Catherine gave Greg a 'what do you have for us now' look. "Okay, once again I would like to point out that I have made the major discovery of yet another case."  
Grissom was getting impatient. "Greg, just get to the point."  
Greg slightly frowned but went on. "I finished the swab Nick gave me and it's not animal."  
"Then what is it?" Catherine asked.  
"Human."   
  
All of them stood shocked. "Human?" Nick asked.  
Greg nodded. "Human saliva."   
Catherine stared at Greg like he had just grown another head. "That can't be right. You must have done something wrong."  
Greg mocked a hurt look and placed his hand over his heart. "If you don't believe me, I'll run it again, but I'm telling you, it's human."  
"So the bite marks were caused by a human. That's not possible is it?" Catherine asked again.  
"It is if you file your teeth down." Greg responded.  
Warrick looked at Greg. "Okay, I believe you. The real question is why would someone do this?"  
Grissom answered. "That's what we are going to have to find out." He turned his attention back to Sara. "Get on the computer and see if you can find out something."  
Greg stopped her though. "Sara, the keyword you want is vampire."  
Sara turned to face him. "Vampire?"  
Nick tried not to laugh. "Come on Greg, vampires are not real."  
"How else are you going to explain it? You've got victims that have bite marks in their necks with human saliva in it. I say we gather our crosses and garlic and sharpen some wooden stakes."  
Warrick shook his head. "Someone's been watching too much Buffy the Vampire Slayer."  
"Alright first off Sarah Michelle is cool, second I'm telling you it's a vampire."  
Grissom just shook his head. "Sara, go run a check. Nick, Warrick, you guys go back to the alley. Catherine and I will go back to the store. Go over everything. Make sure we didn't leave anything behind."  
He watched as his team headed off. He turned back to Greg. "If you're vampire theory is correct, I'll see that you get a raise."   
Greg grinned. "Really?"  
Grissom nodded. "Really." He then walked out with Catherine and they made their way back to the store.  
  
Nick and Warrick arrived back at the alley. They walked around the area trying to spot stuff that might have something to do with their case. After ten minutes of searching, Warrick shook his head. "You guys didn't miss anything. There's nothing here."  
"It looks that way."  
"Great, now we are back to square one." Warrick shook his head and stared at Nick. "Which sucks cause now we've got nothing to go on."  
Nick didn't think they would be able to solve this case either. There just wasn't enough evidence to show what happened. "Unless we use Greg's theory about vampires."  
Warrick laughed. "Yeah, right."  
Nick laughed with him. "Leave it to Greg to come up with a farfetched theory."  
Warrick gave the alley one last look and then turned around to face the Tahoe. "Let's go back. There's nothing else we can do here."  
"Alright." Nick and Warrick walked back to the Tahoe, got in, and drove back to the lab.  
  
Catherine and Grissom weren't doing any better at their crime scene either. They walked around the store several times. Catherine was beginning to get tired. All she wanted to do was to go home, take a hot shower, and crawl in bed. She glanced over at Grissom. He looked like he felt the same way. "I think this is a waste of time. There's nothing here. If there was, I'm sure Warrick and Sara already bagged it."  
Grissom looked at her and nodded his head. He still continued to look though. Finally he glanced over at Catherine. "Hey Cath, all the victims died of massive blood loss right?"  
"Right, what are you getting at?"  
He looked back at the crime scene. "Then where did all the blood go?"  
Catherine had to admit that question puzzled her. "We know an animal didn't do it and there was human saliva on the necks of the victims." She looked at Grissom. "Come don't tell me that you are agreeing with Greg's vampire theory."  
"Of course not, I know there are no such thing as vampires. But what if someone did drain the blood of these people?"  
Catherine walked over to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Why would they do that?"  
"To sell the blood, to give it to the Red Cross, heck they could have drunk it for all I know. All I do know is that there is no evidence of the blood on the ground. So it had to go somewhere."  
Catherine noticed how his shoulders slumped down as if he was defeated. She pulled him into a tight embrace. Grissom put his arms around her and held her as tight as he could. After a few moments had passed, they pulled apart. Catherine looked into his eyes. "Feel better?"  
He smiled. "I think so. Let's head back. Maybe one of the others will have better news for us."  
She grabbed his hand and held it as they walked back to the vehicle.  
Sara sat in the computer lab going through all kinds of different websites devoted to bite marks. So far nothing she found was helping her case any. She clicked back to the homepage of the computer and the cursor flashed in the search box. Breathing deeply, she began to type out vampire. Before she hit the go key, she stopped and thought about what she was doing. 'Could Greg be right? Did vampires really exist?' She shook her head and smiled to herself. 'Of course not, but hey I guess there's no harm in looking.' She hit the enter key and soon the search engine found several sites devoted to vampires. She felt pretty ridiculous and was about to close the screen out when she saw a site devoted to people who believed that they were vampires. Intrigued, she clicked on the site and began to read.   
  
Nick and Warrick arrived back at the lab. Nick was thirsty so they stopped in the break room to get a drink. Nick walked up to the fridge and opened it. He took a quick look around at the selection and decided he needed some caffeine. He grabbed two bottles of Pepsi. He handed on to Warrick, who gladly accepted it. Nick twisted the cap and took a long sip. He replaced the lid back and glanced at Warrick. "I guess we should see if Catherine and Grissom are back."  
"Yeah, maybe they found something."  
The two men walked out of the break room and headed toward Grissom's office. Nick looked down at his watch and noticed that their shift was about over. "I'll be glad to go home today."  
Warrick grinned. "Yeah me too. Jasmine has the day off and we're going out for lunch."  
"That sounds cool." They arrived at Grissom's office and peeked in. No one was in there. "Looks like they're not back yet." Warrick commented.  
They decided to go and talk to Sara. On their way to the computer lab, they ran into Catherine and Grissom. Grissom looked at the two gentlemen. "Did you guys find anything else?"  
"Nothing." Nick answered.  
"Was there blood present at your scene?"   
"No, what are you getting at?" Warrick asked.  
Grissom looked at him and then gestured with his hands. "If I came up to you and slashed your throat, what would happen?"  
"You'd loose your job." Nick replied.  
Grissom gave him a firm but not too stern look. "Funny." He focused back on Warrick. "Well?"  
Warrick took a deep breath. "I would die and blood would be everywhere."  
"Exactly, so why doesn't either crime scene have blood?"  
Warrick and Nick looked to Catherine as if she had the answer. Catherine shook her head. "Don't look at me. He's the one who's starting to think that maybe Greg might have something."  
Nick laughed. "Greg? Come on, you know as well as I do, vampires don't exist."  
"I'm not saying vampires did this. I just think it's odd that there isn't any blood evidence at the scene."  
"I will agree that's odd." Warrick commented.   
Nick glanced down at his watch again. It was officially time to go home. He looked over at Grissom. "Hey boss, shift's over. Do we need to stay and work on this? Or can we go home?"  
Grissom looked at Catherine. She held her hands up as if in defeat. "Why are you all looking at me? I don't make these decisions."  
"I just want your opinion."  
"Well then, I say we go home. We have no leads and no suspects. This case will go unsolved."  
It's not the first time they haven't been able to solve a case. Normally, some of them would get upset about leaving it undone, but this time it seemed as if everyone was in agreement. Grissom finally waved his hand. "Then let's go home and get some rest. Hopefully tonight we will get a case we can solve."  
Nick and Warrick told the other two good-bye and headed toward the locker room to get their stuff. Nick walked up to his locker and opened it. He grabbed his stuff and shut the locker door. He turned his attention to Warrick, who was getting stuff out of his locker. "I'm going to get Sara and we're out of here."  
"Have a good day."  
"You too. Tell Jasmine I said hi." Nick began to walk out of the room. He heard Warrick say that he will.  
Nick made his way toward the computer lab, where he knew Sara would be at. When he got there, to his surprise she wasn't there. He decided maybe she went to the break room. He walked in the break room only to find Greg. Greg was grabbing a soda from the fridge. "Hey man, have you seen Sara?"  
Greg looked up and shut the fridge door. "She was just in here about five minutes ago. She said something about getting her stuff and going home."  
"Alright, I must have just missed her." Nick was about to turn around and head back out when Greg's voice stopped him. "Hey Nick?"  
Nick looked at the young lab tech. "What?"  
"I'm going out with Sandi tonight and I was wondering what color roses I should get her."  
"Why are you asking me?"  
"I just wanted a second opinion. See I thought about red, but that's too traditional, then I thought about white, but white is too plain. Don't even mention to me yellow. I don't like yellow roses."  
Nick shook his head. "Then why don't you get those roses that are different colors? I've seen them in flower shops. They are red, pink, yellow, white, heck I've even seen purple roses."  
Greg smiled. "I guess I could do that. Only no yellow roses are going to be in the mix."  
Nick laughed and was about to walk off. He turned and looked at Greg. "You said second opinion, who was the first?"  
"Sara." He answered.  
"I should have guessed. See you around Greggo." Nick left him and went in search for Sara.  
He finally found her in the locker room. She was gathering her stuff together. Nick came in and walked up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned down to kiss her softly on the neck. He released her long enough for her to turn around. "There you are. I was wondering where you were."  
"I was looking for you. Greg told me that you might be here."  
Sara smiled and grabbed his hand. "Did he ever decide what color of roses he wanted?"  
"I'm not sure. He asked my opinion though." They began to walk out of the locker room and headed toward Nick's vehicle.   
"What did you say?"  
"Multi colors." They reached Nick's Tahoe and he opened the door for Sara. She got in and he closed the door. He got in on the other side and started the car. They headed toward their new home.  
  
Catherine arrived home just in time to make sure Lindsey got sent to school okay. She wasn't very tired, so she decided to make herself some breakfast. She walked into her kitchen and opened the fridge. 'Hmm." She thought to herself. 'Eggs, bacon, waffles?'  
She couldn't decide. Before she could look in her cabinets, the phone rang. She walked over to the counter and picked it up. "Hello?"  
"Hey, Catherine." It was Grissom. Not really a surprise there.  
"Hey Gil, what's going on?"  
"I was wondering if you would like to have breakfast with me this morning?" He asked.  
Catherine smiled. "Breakfast sounds good. Do you want me to come over there?"  
"No, I'm going to come pick you up and take you out. Can you be ready in thirty minutes?"  
"Sure. I'll see you then." They said their good-byes and hung up the phone. Catherine decided to take a quick shower before he got there.   
  
Warrick arrived home and immediately called Jasmine. The phone rang three times before she finally answered. "Hello?"  
"Hey beautiful."  
"Warrick! I'm surprised to hear from you this early."  
Warrick glanced at the clock. It was only a few minutes after eight. "Yeah, well we had a pretty easy shift last night. So what are you doing?"  
"I was getting ready to wash some clothes since we are going out for lunch later."  
"Yeah, I should be there around twelve. Is that okay?"  
"Twelve is fine."  
"Alright, I'll see you then. I love you."  
"Love you too."  
"Bye." Warrick hung up the phone and decided to get some rest before he had to meet Jasmine.  
  
It was now around noon. Grissom and Catherine were sitting in one of the booths at England Tavern. It was a restaurant that Greg had introduced them to a while back. They were waiting for their food to come, so they sat back and decided to catch up on the latest gossip. "I think Warrick and Jasmine will be next." Catherine said and took a sip of her water.   
Grissom shook his head. "I'm not too sure about that. Warrick doesn't seem like the type to marry so quickly."  
"And Nick and Sara are?" She laughed. "No offense, but Sara was last one of us that I thought would be getting married."  
"That's how love works. Sometimes it takes a while for a person to realize the one for them is right in front of them." He said this while staring deeply into her eyes.  
"Why do I get the feeling you're not talking about Nick and Sara?"  
He reached over and grabbed her hand. "Because I'm not."  
Catherine could feel herself start to blush. The waitress came over and sat their food down. She asked if they needed anything and then walked away when she received a no. The two began to eat quietly, enjoying each other's company.  
  
Later that evening, around six, Greg was driving to Sandi's house. He decided to go with the multi color roses. He also wore his best looking outfit. He was sure that Sandi would really like it. He pulled up to her house and got out of his car. He made sure that he looked okay and that the roses weren't messed up. 'They better not be.' He thought, 'I just spent a fortune on these.' He walked up to her door and rang the doorbell. He waited a few minutes, but Sandi never answered. He decided to ring it again. Once again, she didn't come to the door. He knew she was home because her Camry was sitting in her driveway. "Come on, answer the door?" He said more to himself than anything. He rang the bell again. Finally he could here some footsteps approaching the door. Sandi opened it and just looked at Greg. She looked like a complete mess. Her hair was everywhere and she had a pale look to her. "Greg?" She said sounding confused. "What are you doing here?"  
Greg had no clue what was up with her. "We had a date remember? I called you the day before and we made plans."  
Sandi continued to glare. "Well, I can't go with you." She was about to slam the door in his face, but he grabbed the handle. "Why not?"  
"Look Greg, no offense but I don't want you around anymore. Besides I'm busy. You and I wouldn't get along anyway. So if you don't mind, actually I don't care if you do mind, I want you to leave."  
Greg stood speechless. Some how the nice girl he meet not too long ago had become an evil stuck up bitch. Not wanting her to see how much pain he was in, he laughed at her. "Yeah, well I don't care. In fact I was going to dump you anyway. I found someone better."  
Sandi just shrugged and then slammed the door in his face. Greg stood there for a moment, not knowing completely what just happened. He looked at the roses he bought for her. He was going to leave them there. Then he decided that he was going throw them away. He turned around and walked to his car. He got in and slammed the door. He took another look at the roses and decided to keep them. He had a better use for them. Still angry though, he looked through his cd collection. He need anger music. He needed really heavy angry music. He finally decided on the song Tearing Away by Drowning Pool. He cranked it and drove back home.  
  
Nighttime seemed to arrive faster than any of them thought possible. Greg was in the break room sitting on of the chairs at the table. He had brought his portable CD player and he was listening to Limp Bizkit's Break Stuff. His head bobbed up and down as the words rang loudly in his ears. He didn't hear when Catherine walked into the room. She could hear the music even though Greg had headphones on. She walked up to him and pulled them off his ears. Greg glanced up. "Trying to go deaf?" She asked him.  
"Nah, just trying to make my day better." He replied.  
"What's wrong Greg? Didn't your date with Sandi go well?"  
Greg had to laugh at the mention of Sandi. He gave Catherine a look and nodded his over toward the cabinet that held the coffee pot. The roses he had bought were sitting in a vase. Catherine saw the roses and turned back toward him. "I'm sorry Greg."  
"It's okay. I mean, it's not okay. It's just that." He was actually at a loss for words. Greg didn't like that feeling either.   
"Did you have a fight?" Catherine felt sorry for him. She knew that he was a really nice guy. A little strange at times, but that was just how Greg was. He was unique.   
"I couldn't even get in her apartment. I mean she practically slammed the door in my face." Greg got up and walked over to the roses. He had decided that he was going to divide them between Catherine, Sara, and Lindsey. He decided to give Catherine the red ones and Lindsey the pink ones. He grabbed them out of the vase and turned his attention back toward Catherine. "Here, I thought you and Lindsey might want to brighten your house." He handed her the roses.   
Catherine smiled. She gave Greg a hug, which surprised him. "Thanks Greg. I'm sure there is someone out there for you. You just have to keep looking."  
Greg grinned. "Yeah, you if you and Grissom ever." He couldn't finish because Catherine put her hands up as in stop right there. "Forget it Greg. I like you but that's about it."  
He laughed. Just then Warrick came in the break room. He smiled and greeted both Catherine and Greg. Greg walked over to the remaining roses in the vase. They were white. He grabbed the vase and told the other two bye. Before he could get out of the room though Catherine called to him. "Hey Greg, who are the white ones for?"  
He smiled. "Sara." He walked out leaving Catherine with a smile and Warrick with a confused look.  
  
Thirty minutes later, Grissom's team was in his office. Grissom was sitting at his desk. Catherine and Warrick were sitting in the chairs across from Grissom. Nick and Sara were leaning against the wall behind them. Grissom was about to hand out assignments when his phone rang. He looked at his team. "Excuse me." He reached down and picked the phone up and placed it to his ear. "Grissom."  
On the opposite end was Brass. "Grissom, we've got a major problem. You might want to get your team down here."  
"Why, what's happened?" Grissom's face changed suddenly into a look of utter shock. This got his team's attention. Quietly they waited for him to get off the phone and let them know what was going on. Grissom ended the conversation with Brass and hung the phone up. He looked at his team. "That was Brass. We're needed at the old theater immediately."  
"What's going on?" Catherine asked. She really didn't like the uneasy look Grissom was giving and she could tell the others didn't either.   
"I think the scene will you everything. I want you all there now. Take one car. I don't want any of you separated. Team up in twos. Never leave each other alone."  
Sara didn't like the sound of that. She reached over and grabbed Nick's hand and gave it a squeeze. "What about you Grissom? Are you going with us?" This came from Warrick.   
"I'm coming. I'll meet you all in the Tahoe in five minutes." Grissom stood up and the rest of team began to leave his office. Catherine hung back and grabbed Grissom's arm. "Gil, what's going on?"  
Grissom gave her a solemn look. "It's bad Catherine. Who ever attacked Marc and Sue Ellen is back and they just added to the death count."  
  
Nick, Sara, and Warrick were standing at the Tahoe with their gear. They were waiting for Grissom and Catherine to get there. "What do you think is going on?" Warrick asked.  
"I have no idea. Whatever it is, it can't be good." Nick responded.   
Sara looked at the two men. "Grissom said to team up in twos but there are five of us."  
"Maybe Brass will be working with someone." Warrick replied. Grissom and Catherine walked up to the Tahoe. Grissom unlocked the doors allowing them to get in. Nick, Sara, and Warrick sat in the back. Sara was in the middle between the guys. "Hey Griss? Who's teaming up with whom?" This came from Nick.   
"I'm working with Brass. Catherine, you and Nick together."  
Sara looked at Warrick and smiled. "Looks like it's the two of us."  
Warrick smiled back. He knew they could handle it. Besides they've been through enough together. He thought back to when Eckley had kidnapped him and Sara and locked them up. They escaped only to be chased through the woods by Eckley and Agent Culpepper. Luckily though, the others were able to help them in time. Warrick looked out the window and noticed that they were pulling up to the old theatre. Police cars and ambulances surrounded the area. Grissom stopped the car and they all got out. Brass met them. He began informing them on the details. "Twenty bodies, no witnesses. The police are cruising the blocks to see if any one stayed behind to watch our show."  
He motioned for them to follow him. They walked into the theatre. A long time ago, drama student would do plays there. The building itself was now too old to hold plays. It went to waste, just waiting for the day the it crumbles to pieces. The rows of seats had wholes in the chairs and some sections that were so ragged it looked like rats had chewed on them. The stage that once was used turned into the setting for Grease and Romeo and Juliet was now covered with the bodies. They walked down the aisle and stepped up on the stage. "Careful some of the floor boards are loose and they might cave in." Brass warned them.   
Paramedics were among the bodies trying to find some survivors. It was no use. They were all dead. Warrick took a closer look at the bodies. He immediately noticed they all had bite marks on their necks. "We're dealing with the same killer as before."  
"I would say killers plural." Sara commented. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Like the other two scenes, there wasn't blood present anywhere. She grabbed her camera and turned to Grissom. "Are we sectioning off?"  
"I want you and Warrick to cover the left side. Nick and Catherine have the right. Meet in the middle. Brass and I are going to do a sweep outside."  
Catherine looked at Nick and grabbed her own camera. "It's gonna be a long night."  
Nick nodded. "Tell me about it." They all split up and began working the scene. After Catherine would take pictures, Nick would then try to gather evidence off the body. He tried looking for fibers that might have come from the suspect. So far he wasn't finding anything. He looked over at Sara and Warrick. Sara was taking the pictures for them. Warrick was also trying to find fibers. They worked this way for about two hours working slowly until every body was photographed and checked. The coroners came in to remove the bodies as soon as the pictures were done. After the bodies were taken, Nick and Catherine began to work again on their side trying to find something on the ground. Suddenly Warrick called out. "I've found something."  
Nick and Catherine walked over to where he was squatting down. "Whatcha got?" Nick asked.  
Warrick took his tweezers and pulled something off the ground. He took a closer look. "It's a tooth." The others got closer and looked at it. It had been filed down to look like a fang. "Is it human?" Sara asked.  
"I'm willing to bet it is." Warrick told her.   
"There's no way a human could do this, is there?" Nick wondered. He looked at each of them.  
"What else could it be? Unless you want to believe Greg's theory about vampires." Catherine told him. She watched as Warrick put the tooth in an envelope.   
Sara looked at them. She started thinking back to what she had read on the internet about vampires. "Um, Greg's theory might not be too farfetched."  
Nick looked at her with a stunned look. "Sara, what are you talking about?"  
She took a deep breath. "I was searching the net and was about to log off when I decided to type in vampires as the keyword. To my surprise there are a lot of websites devoted to vampires."  
"Honey, that's just fantasy." Nick placed his hand on her shoulder.  
"That's not all I found out though. There are actually people who have a psychological disorder in which they believe they are vampires."  
The others looked at her and waited for her to continue. "Okay, it all started with this rare blood disease called porphyria. It's a disorder that produces a deficiency of the heme. Heme, as you know, is one of the pigments in oxygen carrying red blood cells."  
"What are you getting at?" Catherine wondered. She had to admit she was intrigued.   
"Earlier on before there was a treatment for it, people who had it were sensitive to sunlight. They also believed that if they sucked the blood of others it would replace the heme."  
"Okay but you said that was treatable, what does that have to do with wanting to be a blood sucking vampire?"  
She looked at Catherine and shook her head. "I have no idea. All I know is that the psychological disorder makes people think they are real vampires. It causes people to believe that they need blood to live. They file their teeth down and don't go out during the day. In some extreme cases, some people actually sleep in coffins."  
Nick didn't know how to respond. Nothing Sara just said made sense to him. He couldn't imagine a disorder like that. "Okay, say you're right. These people are sick and they are out sucking people's blood. You can't tell me that they did all this without leaving evidence. We should be pulling prints and lifting fibers. Instead we've got nothing."  
Warrick saw the desperation in the faces of his friends. This was one of the hardest and confusing cases he's been on in a while. "Look, at least we have a starting point now. If Sara's internet information is concrete, we should be able to find some of these people right?"  
"You mean do they have chats on the internet. Vampires r'us?" Catherine said. The other three looked at her. "What? You all were thinking that too. I just had the guts to say it out loud."  
They smiled and Warrick placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're the woman."  
Before she could comment, Grissom walked back in. "Are we done already?" He asked noticing that they were all standing in one spot.  
Catherine explained to him everything they just talked about. Grissom looked at them. He wasn't sure if he had very brilliant CSI's or if the job was getting to them. At any rate, he trusted them and their opinions. "All right, we'll look into that at the lab. I want you to continue sweeping this entire area."  
"Did you find anything outside?" Nick asked.  
"No, and our wonderful Vegas cops have decided to give up as well. We couldn't find anything out of place."  
"You need some more help?" Sara asked hoping that she could get out of the old theatre with its damp smell and into the fresh Vegas air.  
Grissom gave it some thought. "Okay, but only you. I need the other three to process the stage completely."  
Happy that Grissom agreed, Sara carefully walked off the stage and headed back up the isle where Grissom was standing. Nick, however wasn't happy about it. He didn't want his girl out there alone. "Hey Griss? I thought you wanted us to stay in pairs of two?"  
Darn, Sara had forgot about that. She looked at Grissom than at Nick. She knew that Nick didn't want her out there alone. 'Well, I'm not going to be out there alone. I mean Grissom and Brass are still out there.' She thought to herself.  
Grissom had seemed to forget that as well. "We've been here for a few hours and I doubt they will come back now. I think you three will be okay."  
Nick didn't like that answer. He looked over at Sara and with his eyes he told her how he felt. Sara tried to reassure him with her own eyes that she would be fine. Grissom told them he would be outside if they needed him. He walked out leaving Sara standing in the aisle alone. Nick walked off the stage and up to her. "Sara." He began, but she stopped him. "I'll be fine. I promise." She gave him her best smile and reached out and grabbed his hand. Nick leaned down and kissed her on the cheek.   
"You better be." He let go of her hand and cupped her face. "I love you."  
"I love you too." She glanced over at Catherine and Warrick. They were watching the scene between Nick and Sara. She focused back on Nick. "You might want to help them before Warrick comes and drags you back."  
Nick laughed as the thought of Warrick coming down and carrying him back on stage crossed his mind. "Okay, I'll see you in a bit." He gently kissed her on the lips and then pulled back.   
"Come on Romeo." Warrick called out. "We've got work to do."  
Nick laughed and watched as Sara turned and walked out of the theatre. He headed back toward the stage.  
  
Back at the lab, Greg was working on some samples for day shift. He was in a much better mood now than he was earlier that evening. He had played plenty of anger music and got everything out of his system. Now he was listening to Trust Company. His cell began to ring. He debated on answering it and just letting his voice mail get it. He decided to answer it. "Yeah?" He said in a way of greeting. Hello was so normal. He liked to be different. "Greg?" The voice said on the other end.  
"Yeah, who's this?"  
"It's Sandi." She didn't sound so great. She was whispering.  
"Why are whispering?" Greg didn't really want to deal with her, but he had a feeling that something was wrong with her.  
"I need your help. Can you come over?"  
"I'm at work. Besides you told me how you felt, why call me?"  
"Look, I'm sorry about before. I just have a lot to deal with right now." Greg rolled his eyes. 'Don't we all?' He thought. "I'm sorry, but I'm at work. I don't have time to play mind games with you."  
"Fine!" She basically yelled into the phone. "I don't know why I even bothered calling you! I hate you Greg Sanders!"  
Greg couldn't believe this girl. "What's up with you? First you act all nice and want to do something. The next minute you're telling me you don't want me around and now you're calling me wanting me to help you. When I say no, you become a bitch demon!! You don't make any sense!!" Greg was yelling so loudly that people actually stopped in the halls to listen to him.   
Sandi didn't say anything for a few moments. Suddenly she began to laugh uncontrollably. She was laughing so hard, Greg was sure she probably had tears rolling down her face. He had no idea what was so funny. "Greggo?" She replied after her laughing stopped. "I have to go now. It's going to be daylight soon and I have to take care of some stuff before I go to bed."  
"Whatever." Greg hung up the phone. 'That girl is whacked.' He thought to himself and then looked out his window. The people who had been there left during the moments of silence. He took a deep breath. He had no idea what was going in Sandi's brain. 'Whatever it is, I hope she gets help soon.' He turned the ringer of his phone off and shoved the phone is his pant's pocket. He then cranked his music back up and starting working again on the samples.  
  
Sara glanced down at her watch. It read 3:13 a.m. She was walking along the side of the theatre. Grissom and Brass were on the opposite side. If she listened close enough she could hear parts of what they were talking about. There was a huge garbage bin against the wall. She decided to have a quick look just to make sure nothing was in there. She lifted the lid and looked in. She was closing the lid when she felt a presence of some one. She turned around and saw a man dressed in dark clothing. He stared at her with dark eyes. She wanted to blink, but she couldn't. She could feel herself being pulled into his eyes. She couldn't even remember how to talk. The man walked closer to her. He stood a few feet before her and lifted his arm up. He placed his hand on the top of her head and ran his fingers down through her hair. Again she couldn't move. She was mesmerized. She didn't even notice the cold touch of his hands as they cupped her face. "You should go inside. It's dangerous out here." He told her. His voice was calm and stunning. Sara's rational brain tried to put together his features. His eyes were a dark brown and he had black flowing hair that reached his shoulders. He was six feet tall at least. He gave her a quizzical look. "You're trying to figure me out. Aren't you?"  
Sara finally was able to make herself talk. "Who are you?"  
"My dear Sara, that's not important. What is important is that you go inside before you get hurt."  
"How do you know my name?"  
She never got her answer. Grissom came around the corner. "Sara, have you found anything?"  
She looked over at Grissom and then back. The mysterious man was gone. "Did you just?" She began but stopped mid sentence. If Grissom had seen him, he would have mentioned it.  
Grissom noticed her distressed look. "Are you okay?"  
Confused and now a little scared, she lied to him. "Yeah, but if you don't mind, I think I'm going to go and help the others out."  
Before he could say more, she disappeared around the corner and headed back in the theatre. Leaving Grissom alone to wonder what was going on in the head of his CSI.  
  
Sara walked back in the theatre and noticed that the others had made their way to the center of the stage. She stepped up on the stage and watched them for a few more seconds before she called out. "You guys need an extra hand?"  
Nick looked up and smiled. "You didn't stay out long."  
"What can I say, I missed you too much."   
Warrick was kneeling beside Catherine. He glanced up at Sara. "Yeah, I bet."  
Catherine looked up and noticed something different in Sara's eyes. She had a haunted glaze in them. She could tell the younger CSI was trying hard not to let anyone notice. "We're about done here. Did you find anything outside?"  
Sara stared at her for a moment and then shook her head. "Um, no. I didn't see anything." Whether Catherine believed her or not, she didn't comment further.   
"I'd say we're done here." Warrick replied. He stood up and stretched his legs out. He grabbed his gear and walked off the stage and waited for the others to follow him. Soon all four were heading back outside.   
Grissom and Brass had just finished another sweep of the area. So far they haven't found anything. Brass was beginning to think that he would have to call in for some more help. 'Like the FBI.' He thought. He looked over at Grissom knowing full well that the man wouldn't like that idea at all. Brass heard the door of the theatre open and saw the CSI team walking out. "Did you find anything?" He asked them.  
Catherine decided to answer for them. "No, and if we didn't know that there had been dead people in there, we wouldn't have known something happened."  
They were huddled in a circle. Grissom looked at each one of his team. He could tell they were just as upset and confused as he was. "Other than the tooth, were you able to collect any evidence for Greg to look over?"  
Sadly Catherine shook her head. "Griss, we went through that whole stage. Nothing was out of place. There wasn't even a stray hair."  
"Which is odd. The average person sheds hair everyday." Warrick replied.  
Grissom couldn't accept this. "There has to be something we are missing. Each scene should have a clue as to who did this."  
Nick ran his hand through his hair. "We've looked and looked. What could we be missing?"  
"Did you check the stage for prints?" He asked.  
"You mean the stage floor?" Warrick asked.  
"Yes, at sometime or another someone had to touch the stage somewhere. Plus we know they walked on it. Did you check for shoeprints?"  
Nick looked down at the ground. He then looked back up at Grissom. "Our shoe prints are going to be everywhere. We just walked up on the stage without thinking about that."  
"We just contaminated our evidence, didn't we?" Sara asked.   
"Hey, we weren't the first ones on that stage. The police and paramedics waltzed all over it first." This came from Warrick.   
"All I know is that there has to be fingerprints in there somewhere and I need you guys to go back through and check." Grissom said and he pointed back toward the entrance to the theatre.  
"We're going to be here the rest of the night and tomorrow too." Warrick commented.  
"Then get to work."  
Nick, Sara, and Warrick turned around and headed back inside. Catherine looked at Grissom. "I'm sorry, we should have thought about that. But honestly, how could we when we have no idea what's going on. I mean you tell us to stay together and don't separate. Gil, believe it or not, we're nervous and yes a little scared."  
Grissom inhaled deeply. "I know, and I'm not upset with you or the rest of them. We just need to stay focused. Hopefully the four of you won't take too long." He closed the distance between the two of them and firmly planted his lips on hers. After a few moments, both pulled away breathless. "You better go in and help them out." Grissom told her as soon as he caught his breath. Catherine nodded and told him good-bye. She waved bye to Brass and walked back inside. Grissom looked over at the other man. "I guess we can head back. The four of them can handle this scene." He and Brass got into Brass's vehicle and drove off.  
  
It was around 9 a.m. when Catherine finally finished printing the last part of the stage. She thought her back was going to break after being bent over the whole time. She glanced at the others. They looked as tired as felt. Pleased that they were able to pull some prints, the four got in the Tahoe and drove back to the lab. Warrick and Catherine were in the front seat with Warrick driving. Nick and Sara were in the back. Nick could hear his stomach growling. "Hey Warrick, do you mind if we stop at a drive thru to get something to eat?"  
Warrick looked in the rear view mirror. "Nope, that sounds like a great idea."  
Catherine and Sara both agreed with them. Warrick drove until he found a fast food restaurant. He pulled up to window and ordered their food. Catherine took her cup of coffee and began drinking it. She could feel her energy start to pick up. They arrived at the lab and walked in the break room and began dividing out the food. Greg walked in and noticed the feast on the table. "Don't guess you brought something for me?" He said.  
"Actually we did." Sara told him and handed him a plate breakfast.   
Greg looked down and noticed it was full of eggs, bacon, and hash browns. "Thanks Sara." He sat down at the table with the others and soon they began eating. Grissom came in and took his plate that Catherine had bought for him. They discussed the case while they ate and the fingerprints they were able to pull. Grissom nodded. 'Finally we seem to be getting somewhere he thought.' He looked at the faces of his team and could see the exhaustion. "After breakfast, I want you all to go home and get some rest."  
"What about the prints?" Warrick asked. Not that he wanted to stay here a couple more hours, but he knew they needed to get moving with this case before someone else dies.  
"I'll some people from day shift run them."  
"Day shift? Nick asked, suddenly not sure whether he liked the idea of day shift handling anything they did.  
"They don't that as much stuff to handle. Don't worry. I'm only having them run the prints through the computer. That's all."  
Grissom could have sworn he heard them all breath a sigh of relief. Nick finished his meal and threw his plate in the trashcan. He looked over at Grissom. "Do we need to come in early?"  
"I'm not sure. It depends on how long it takes to find matches to the prints."  
"Okay, I guess that means we're all on call." Warrick replied as he got up and tossed his trash in the garbage.   
Sara tried to hold back a yawn. She looked over at Nick. "I'm ready to go home now."  
Nick nodded. "Okay." He watched as she got up and tossed her trash and came and stood next to him. He grabbed her hand and told the others good-bye. They were heading toward Nick's Tahoe when they heard Greg calling for them. "Hey wait!"  
Nick and Sara turned around to see the young lab tech running toward them with white roses in his hands. He handed them to Sara. "I forgot to give these to you earlier."  
Sara smiled. "Thanks Greg." She then gave him an odd look. "Weren't you going to give roses to Sandi?"  
"I was but we broke up. I didn't want them to go to waste, so I divided them between you, Catherine, and Lindsey."  
"Thanks Greg, they're beautiful." She went over and hugged him. She whispered in his ear. "I'm sorry about Sandi."  
"Don't be. I guess she wasn't good enough for me anyway." Sara pulled away from him and gave him another one of her smiles. "That's the spirit." She walked back over to Nick and stood beside him.   
"Have a good day guys. I'll see you tonight." Greg told them.  
"Later Greg." Nick called. "Oh and Greg, don't worry you'll find someone."  
"Thanks Nick. Bye." He turned around and headed back to the lab to get his stuff before he went home.  
  
Later that night, Grissom was at Catherine's. She had called and invited him to supper. They were on the couch kissing. Neither noticed as Lindsey walked outside. She walked down the steps and stared up at the night sky. She was trying to figure out which star was which. When she looked back down, she noticed a man in black standing across the road. She had no idea who it was, but she wasn't afraid of him. He walked up to her. "Lindsey, what are you doing outside?"  
"I wanted to look at the stars. See in school, we're talking about the different planets and stars. I wanted to see if I could find the ones that were in my book."  
The man was now beside her. "Does your mom know you're out here?"  
"How do you know my name?" She looked up at the man. She knew that she wasn't supposed to talk to strangers, but something about him made him seem okay. She watched as he bent down to her level. "I know a lot about you and your mom Catherine."  
"Mom and Mr. Grissom are on the couch making out. So I wanted to come out here."  
"I'm sure they are going to worry about you."  
"The only thing I think they are worrying about is whether they are getting enough oxygen." She then looked back at the stars. "Do you know much about stars?"  
"Some."  
"Could you teach me some?" She really wanted to learn more and something about the man beside her made her feel comfortable and safe.  
He began showing her the different stars and telling her the different names. She looked at him. "What's your name?"  
"I have a lot of names."  
"I have three. A first, middle, and last name." She wasn't sure if that's what he meant by having a lot of names. "So what is your name?" She asked again really hoping that he would tell her.  
He was about to answer her, when they heard Catherine call. "Lindsey!"  
Lindsey turned around to face her mother and then looked back toward the nice man, but he was no longer there. Catherine came up and put her arms around her. "What are you doing out here?"  
"I wanted to look at the stars." Lindsey continued to look around the area.   
"You shouldn't come outside by yourself. You could get kidnapped." Catherine started walking with her back inside. Lindsey looked at her. "But I wasn't."  
Catherine looked at her. "What do you mean? Was someone out here with you?"  
Lindsey knew she was in trouble now. 'Me and my big mouth.' She thought to herself. "It's okay, he said that he was a friend of yours. He even knew my name."  
Catherine bent down and looked at her daughter. "Honey, anyone can come and tell you they know me. That's how little kids are taken away. You know better. You should have come back inside."  
"Are you mad?" Lindsey's eyes started to tear up. "I'm sorry." She could feel her mom put her arms around her. "It's okay Linds. I just got scared. That's all."  
"Can I come to work with you tonight, I don't want to stay at the sitters?"  
Catherine pulled out of her daughter's arms. "We'll see."  
She and Lindsey walked back inside and got ready to go back to work.  
  
They were all in the break room when Catherine and Grissom walked in with Lindsey. Lindsey spotted Warrick first. "Uncle Warrick!" She yelled and ran straight to him and jumped on his lap. Warrick gave her a hug. "How's my girl doing?" He asked her.   
Lindsey smiled. "Okay, but I wanted to stay here tonight with all of you." She got off of Warrick's lap and went and hugged everyone else. "I didn't want to be alone cause of the guy I saw." She was telling them.  
"What guy?" Warrick asked her.  
She looked at him. "He was tall like you and he had dark hair and dark eyes kinda like Sara's, but darker."   
This got Sara's immediate attention. She looked at the little girl. "What did he say to you?"  
Lindsey looked at Sara. "That I shouldn't be outside."  
Sara knew it was the same man she saw outside the theatre. "Lindsey, was he wearing dark clothes as well?"  
"Yep. And he knew who I was."  
Sara could feel the goose bumps on her skin. She shivered slightly. Catherine stared at Sara. "You've seen him too, haven't you?"  
The younger CSI nodded. "Yeah, he was outside the theatre."  
"I wondered why you had such a haunted look in your eyes."  
Nick walked over to Sara and put his arm around her. "Why didn't you say anything?"  
Sara looked at him. "I don't know. I, he, Nick." She leaned into him and Nick held her. He looked at Grissom. Grissom wasn't happy about this either. "Sara, this could have been our guy, you should have said something."  
"It's not him. He told me to go inside. He said that I would get hurt if I didn't." She could feel Nick's grip get tighter.   
Lindsey looked at her mom. "He showed me some stars. He didn't want to hurt me."  
Grissom looked at the little girl. "Lindsey, you could have been hurt though. Even if a person acts nice, he might not be."  
"He is nice." She pointed her finger at Grissom and Catherine. "You just don't understand. He wants to protect us." She ran over to Nick and Sara and grabbed a hold of Sara. Sara, who was still being held by Nick, turned to where she could still be held by Nick and to where she could also hold Lindsey.  
"Grissom, Lindsey's right. If he wanted to hurt us, he would have." Sara told him.   
Warrick, who had been quiet, spoke up. "If this guy is so great why is he only hanging around at night, and why haven't any of the rest of us met him?"  
Sara looked at him. "I don't know."  
Just then Greg walked in. "Hey Grissom, the fingerprint results are done."  
Grissom turned his attention to Greg. "Good, thanks Greg." They all followed Greg out to the computer lab to get the results.  
  
A woman from days was sitting at the computer waiting for them. Grissom recognized her as Caroline MacKenzie. She was from Alabama and had a very southern accent. "I got your results right here, Mr. Grissom." She told him and pulled up the pictures on the computer. Five names and photos popped up one at a time on the screen. The first was a man. He had black hair and blue eyes. He was identified as Jordan Moreno. The second photo was another man. He had brown hair and brown eyes. His name was Sean Mayfield. The third was a woman with red hair and green eyes. The name Marti French popped up beside her photo. The fourth was another man with blonde hair and brown eyes. The computer said his name was Stan Andrews. The fifth picture shocked them all. Everyone turned and looked at Greg. He didn't move his eyes from the screen. There in front of him was the face of his now ex-girlfriend Sandi. He couldn't believe it. He could feel the others staring at him. He tore his eyes away from the computer and looked at his friends. "I didn't know." He told them.   
Warrick put his hand on the young lab tech's shoulder. "I'm sorry."  
"I knew she was acting weird for a reason, but this is way beyond what I thought might be wrong."  
Grissom knew they needed to go and talk to these people. There were five suspects and five CSIs. Which meant that he would have to split them up in order to talk to everyone. He wasn't sure if he wanted them to each talk to one that way they could get done sooner, or if they should go in pairs. Pairs sounded safer, but time was running out. He didn't want anyone else to die. Finally he made a decision and he silently hoped it wasn't a mistake. "Greg, stay here and watch Lindsey. The rest of us will go talk to the suspects. I want us all to go separately. Catherine and Sara, you too decide on who is going to talk to Caroline and who is going to talk to Sandi. Nick, Warrick, and I will pick between the men."  
"Grissom, are you sure that's a good idea?" Nick asked. He wasn't too happy knowing that they were all going out alone. Especially with all that's gone on.  
"Nick, I realize that it's dangerous. But if we don't act soon, someone else could die. There's been too many now."  
"What about the cops? We could each have one to accompany us." Warrick suggested. He wasn't worried about himself. He was more worried about the two women. Not that he was going to let them know that.  
Grissom nodded. "Good idea. I'll make the arrangements. I want you to get ready. I have a feeling we're going to have a long night ahead of us."  
  
Nick got paired up with Johnny Hollingsworth from the night shift Vegas P.D. 'I guess it could worse.' He thought to himself. Nick was driving along the highway trying desperately to think about something else besides the mystery man who had appeared before Sara and Lindsey. He couldn't understand why Sara kept that from him. Was she that scared or did she really think this guy wasn't going to hurt her? All Nick knew is that if anyone so much as messed with her, they would have to deal with him. Nick gave up trying to think about talking to Jordan Moreno. He'd deal with Moreno when he got there. Nick found the exit he needed to make and turned right. Hollingsworth sat in the passenger seat staring out the window. He wasn't really big guy, in guy standards. He only stood about 5'9". His hair was shaved so close that it was hard to tell what color his hair really was. His eyes were the color of a blue sky. He looked over at Nick. "So is it true?"  
Nick glanced at him. "Is what true?"  
"That you and Sara Sidle are engaged."   
"Yeah, we got engaged not too long ago." Nick went back to watching the road. He was trying to find the right house.  
Hollingsworth just nodded and turned his attention back to the road. Nick finally found the house. They pulled up the driveway. Both men got out and walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. Nick looked down at his watch. It was almost 11 p.m. A little late to be making a house call, but oh well. A man in his late twenties answered the door. "Yeah?"  
Nick pulled out his id. "I'm Nick Stokes with the Vegas Crime lab. Are you Jordan Moreno?"  
"Yeah, so what?" Jordan's black hair was spiked and his blue eyes were blood shot.  
"We need to ask you some questions."  
"What's this about?"  
Nick didn't feel like being here all night. He wanted to get back and see Sara. "We found your fingerprints at a crime scene. Care to explain?"  
"I've got nothing to say."  
"You don't want to give me some B.S. story about where you were and you have no idea how your prints got where they were." Nick was sure this guy would do that. Instead Jordan shrugged his shoulders. "So what, I go to the old theatre. What about it?"  
"I never said where it was."  
"You found my prints there, so what's the point about lying 'bout where I was?"  
Nick wished they were all this easy. "Mr. Moreno, we need you to come with us."  
Jordan then looked nervous. "Um, I can't unless you get me back before daylight."  
Hollingsworth looked at him. "What's so special about daylight?"  
"I'm allergic to it. I can't go out in the sun. It burns my skin." Jordan looked at Nick. "Am I coming back before dawn?"  
"Why don't you tell me why you were at the theatre?" Nick wasn't sure why Jordan was saying the things he was, but he did remember what Sara had told them about people with psychological disorders. 'Could this guy think he's a vampire?' Nick thought to himself.  
"I was with my friends. We go there and hang out sometimes."  
Nick decided to ask the most random question he ever thought he would ask. "Do you drink blood?"  
Jordan paled. The color actually drained from his face. Hollingsworth looked over at Nick like the Texan had grown another head.  
"Are you serious?" Jordan asked.  
"Very." Nick responded.   
"I don't want to answer that. In fact I'm done answering your questions. Now please leave." He was trying to shut the door in Nick's face, but Nick placed his hand on the door to keep it from shutting. "What's the matter Jordan? Did I hit a nerve?"  
Nick turned to Hollingsworth. "We're taking him in. His prints at the scene are enough to bring him in for more questions."  
Hollingsworth didn't respond. He just walked over to Jordan and grabbed his arm. "Come with us, sir." Jordan had no choice but to come. They all got back to Tahoe and got in. Hollingsworth with Jordan to make sure he didn't go anywhere. Nick started the vehicle and they headed to the police station.  
  
Catherine decided that she would talk to Marti. 'No, wait.' She thought. 'I wanted to talk to Sandi but Sara basically demanded to be the one to speak to her.' Catherine just shook her head. Sandi has no idea what's ahead of her. The cop that was with Catherine had an emergency that he needed to attend to, so she was by herself. She was getting out of the car to go talk to Marti. Before she got there, she had a feeling someone was behind her. She turned around and saw the man in black. "I guess you're going to tell me that I should go back so I won't get hurt."  
The man walked up to her. "Catherine, you have no idea what you are your friends are getting yourselves into."  
"And what is it that we are getting into?"  
"There are more than the five you are seeking." His eyes bore into hers. Catherine could see now what Sara and Lindsey were talking about. "How did you know about the five?"  
Mystery man walked up to her and cupped her face. "They are the weak ones. They were supposed to be caught so you won't catch the others."  
Catherine could feel her arms lifting up as if against her will. She held the man's arms with her hands. She could feel the coldness of his skin. "I don't understand."  
"You're not supposed to."  
"You should hurry, Marti is fixing to leave. She won't tell you anything about the others and you will never had evidence of them either." He pulled her toward him and he kissed her forehead. He said something in her ear, but she couldn't make it out. When she was finally able to snap out of her trance she noticed he was gone. She looked up at the house and saw the door open. Marti walked out and closed the door. Catherine walked up to her. "Marti French?"  
Marti stopped and stared at her. "That's me, who are you?"  
"Catherine Willows, CSI. I need to ask you some questions." Catherine closed the distance between them.  
"I don't know anything." Marti said backing up.  
"I do. I know your fingerprints were found at a crime scene. You want to tell me why?"  
Marti clasped her hands together. "I don't know what you're talking about."  
"Let me refresh your memory. An old abandoned theatre. Dead bodies on the stage."  
Marti's green eyes seemed to flash. "I killed them." She told Catherine. "I murdered them and drank their blood."  
Catherine only stared at her. "Why would you do that?"  
"I'm a vampire that's why." She said in a matter of fact tone.  
Catherine only nodded. "Well, I guess that must suck. But let's just test that theory shall we?" Catherine reached into her pocket and pulled out a compact. She had forgot to put it back in her purse. Lucky for her, it also had a mirror. She walked up to Marti, who now had a nervous look to her. Catherine held the mirror to her. "Look in it."  
Marti stared at her then at the mirror. "I don't get it."  
"Don't you? You say you're a vampire. Well from what I've heard vampires don't have reflections and they sure don't leave fingerprints."  
Marti looked into the mirror and saw her reflection staring right back at her. Catherine grabbed her by the shoulder. "I think you need to come with me."  
Marti couldn't fight back. She was confused. 'Why do I have a reflection?' She asked herself as Catherine put her in the car and then got in on the driver's side. Soon both women were headed off to the station.  
Sara found Sandi's place without a problem. She was about to knock on Sandi's door when someone grabbed her shoulder. Sara jumped and turned around. It was the officer that had been assigned to accompany her. "Dammit Edwards!" She tried to control her breathing. "Don't ever sneak up on me like that!"  
Edwards gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry Sidle, didn't mean to. I thought you heard me."  
Finally gaining control of her breathing she replied, "It's okay. Sorry I yelled at you."  
"You're forgiven."  
Sara turned her attention back to the door and knocked very loudly. Sandi took her time answering. When she did, she gave Sara an evil glare. "What do you want? Greg send you here to apologize."  
"Actually, I'm here because your prints were found at one of our crime scenes. You need to come with us."  
Sandi looked at her. "No way. I don't trust your lab. Greg must have tampered with something and made it look like I was there."  
Sara held up her hand. "First of all, our lab is the best. Second Greg never touched the evidence. And thirdly, if Greg wanted to get back at you he would find a better way to do it."  
Sandi shook her head. "Sara, is it? Why don't you get out of here, before I make you leave."   
"Oh we're leaving, but you're coming with us." Sara turned to Edwards. "Arrest her."  
"Arrest me?? What have I done?"  
"Why don't you tell me?" Sara was tired of playing games. In fact she was just tired period. She just wanted to go home and explain things to Nick. She wanted to make sure he wasn't upset with her. 'But Sandi here is taking her sweet time.'  
"My prints were found at a crime scene?"  
'Duh, isn't that what I told her earlier? What did Greg see in her anyway?' Aggravated Sara nodded her head. "Yes your prints were found at a crime scene and either you tell me now and come with us, or you come with us and tell my boss. Either way you're coming along."  
"Fine, I'm not telling you anything." She walked over to Edwards and held her hands out. "Arrest me. Take me back, I'm not talking to her."  
Edwards looked at Sara, Sara just nodded, so he put the handcuffs on her and led her to the car. Sara exhaled deeply and followed them.  
  
Warrick and Grissom didn't have an easy time with their suspects either, but they managed to get them to the station. As of now, all five suspects were being questioned separately by different cops. The CSI team were waiting to hear from the cops. They decided to go back to the break room and wait. Lindsey was asleep on the couch. Catherine walked in and smiled. 'Greg must have brought her in here.' She thought and bent down to move some stray hairs away from her daughter's face. Nick and Sara sat down beside each other at the table. Warrick sat across from them. Grissom leaned against the wall. "What do we do now?" Warrick whispered not wanting to wake up the peaceful sleep Lindsey must be having.  
Grissom glanced down at his watch and then looked at Warrick. "The cops take it from here. We just wait until the five make a confession."  
"They're guilty. We all know that. What we don't know is how they pulled something like this off." Nick responded.  
Catherine got up from beside the couch and walked over to sit next to Warrick at the table. She wasn't sure if she should tell them about the man. She finally decided to tell them. "Guys, I have to tell you something."  
"What?" Grissom asked and walked over and grabbed a chair and sat down beside her.  
"I saw the man Sara and Lindsey were talking about."  
All eyes turned to her. "When?" This came from Sara.  
"When I was going to question Marti." Catherine took a deep breath and told them everything he said. "And then he was gone."  
"I don't trust this guy." Nick said looking at Catherine and then to Sara. "If he's wanting to help so much, why is he sneaking around at night? And why is that he hasn't approached any of us guys?"  
"Maybe because he knows his charm won't affect us." Warrick put in.  
Sara and Catherine looked at Warrick. "What's that supposed to mean?" Sara asked not sure if she liked what he might be insinuating.  
"Easy Sara." Nick said and placed his arm around her shoulders. "Warrick just means that maybe this guy knows that he can't persuade us."  
Catherine looked at Nick. "He just has this aura about him. I can't describe it. It's like I wasn't worried that he was there. I felt safe." She thought about it some more. "Now I know why Lindsey didn't go back inside."  
"Okay, so the guy is providing charm. He said that the five were weak. That they were supposed to be caught." Grissom was trying desperately to figure everything out. So far his mind wasn't comprehending anything valuable.  
"He also told Catherine that there wouldn't be any evidence of them. So far that's true." Warrick commented.  
"I want to talk to him." Nick said. "I want to find out why he's doing this."  
"How do we get in touch with him? We don't even know his name." Catherine inserted. She wasn't sure if she wanted to talk to him again. What if he tried to kiss again and this time in front of Grissom. 'Oh sure, it was a kiss on the forehead.' She thought. 'But that wouldn't go over well with him.'  
"He comes to you guys when your outside by yourself, so maybe one of you should take a stroll outside, with me following close behind you of course." Nick didn't like the idea he just provided, but he couldn't see what other choice they had.  
"I'll do it." This came from Sara. She turned to Nick. "You'll be there right?"  
He took her hand and squeezed it. "You bet."  
Nodding she got up. "Then let's do it. We need answers and right now, he's the only one that can give them to us."  
Nick stood up and they started walking out of the break room. Grissom stopped them. "Be careful. If you need us, call. We'll be right there."  
"Try to bring him back here." Warrick said. "That way we can all talk to him."  
"We'll try." Nick said and he and Sara walked out.  
  
They tried to find a deserted area where the mystery guy will show up. Nick pulled his Tahoe over and turned to face Sara. "Remember, I'm right behind you."  
Sara smiled. "I know."   
Nick grabbed her face and brought it to his. He kissed her fully on the lips. Sara's hand snaked around his neck causing him to come closer to her. They broke apart. Nick reached for her hand and held it. "I love you." He kissed her hand and stared into her eyes seeing the love he felt for her reflecting back at him. "I love you too."  
"Ready?"  
She nodded. "As I'll ever be." They both got out and Sara gave him one final quick kiss before she started walking away from him. Once she was about out of sight, Nick began walking in the direction she was going.  
Sara walked around cautiously. She knew that this probably wasn't the smartest or safest idea in the world, but what choice did they have? She knew that the mysterious man could answer their questions. About fifteen minutes of walking, she was about to give up. 'He must be somewhere else.' She was about to turn back toward Nick when she saw him. He was leaning against the wall looking right at her. She began walking toward him, but he placed his hand up to stop her. "Wait, let your boyfriend catch up with you."  
Sara was shocked. "How did you know?"  
He gave her a seductive smile. "I'm not stupid Sara. I saw the two of you in the Tahoe. I was standing only a few yards away."  
'Great.' She thought to herself.   
Nick caught up with her. "Sara." He saw the man leaning against the wall. "You must be mystery man?"  
"And you must be Nick." He answered. He pushed off the wall and walked toward the two. Nick's protective instincts kicked in. He stood slightly in front of Sara waiting to fight for her if necessary.   
"Don't worry Nick. I don't mean you or Sara any harm. I only want to help."  
"Really? Cause you've got a funny way of doing it."  
The man in black didn't seem fazed. "What do you want to know?"  
"First off, who are you?"  
"My name is no importance of yours. If insist on calling me by a name, you may call me Drakon."  
Knowing that's the best answer he'll probably get, Nick asked his next question. "How are these people dying? And why?"  
Drakon looked at Nick. "Such knowledge is beyond your capability. Don't worry though, they will soon pass and never return again to Vegas."  
"Who are they?" Sara asked.   
"They are the Vampyr. They are known to you as vampires. Only that's not what they are."  
"Oh that makes sense." Nick said sarcastically. "Vampires? In Vegas?" Nick shook his head. "Vampires don't exist."  
"You're correct they don't."  
"You just said that they are vampires." Sara replied.   
Drakon shook his head. "No, I said that's what you would describe them as."  
"Fine, whatever. Why are they here?"  
"The Vampyr are a mysterious race. They travel in search of new members and in search of food."  
"So those murdered people are food?" Nick asked. He really wasn't convinced. He looked around waiting for someone to pop out from a science fiction convention laughing their heads off because he was listening to a man who called himself Drakon. 'What kind of name is that anyway?' Nick took a quick glance at Sara to see if she was believing this story.  
"Yes, they were sacrifices to the Vampyr. Like I said they will be gone soon and will never return again."  
"What about the five other people there? What were they doing?"  
"Those five have a disorder which causes them to believe that they are vampires. The Vampyr used to them to cover up their own tracks. Like I told your friend Catherine, they were supposed to be caught. All the evidence will point to these five and they will serve the penalty of the others."  
"How do you know all this?" Sara asked. "Why should we stand here and believe anything you tell us? How do we know that you aren't just some crazed sci-fi nut who has seen Star Trek to many times?"  
Drakon looked at her and grinned. "I am a protector."  
"Yeah and you do your job so well." Sara said with bitter hatred. "Because of your wonderful protection 23 people are dead and 5 people are about to spend the rest of their lives in jail."  
"I didn't say who I protected." Drakon said and reached toward Nick and Sara. Nick stepped in front of her ready to fight this guy off. Drakon grabbed Nick's arm and twisted it. A loud snap sounded through the air. Nick yelled and held his broken arm to his chest. He looked at Sara. "Run!" He told her.   
She couldn't move. She wouldn't leave Nick alone with this guy. She finally snapped out of her trance and reached over to Nick. "Come on." She pulled him and they both began running toward the Tahoe. Drakon appeared in front of them. "Leaving already? That's rude."  
"Yeah, well you broke Nick's arm. That was stupid." Sara pulled out her weapon and aimed it at him.   
"You think that can possibly hurt me?"   
Sara didn't wait she fired five rounds into him. He fell and his back landed on the ground. Sara and Nick ran toward the Tahoe. She had seen enough movies to know not to wait and see if the killer really was dead. She got Nick in the passenger side and quickly hopped in the drivers seat. She started the car and put it in reverse. Drakon walked out and stood in front of the car. Sara put the vehicle in drive and hit the gas hard and drove right for him. The Tahoe slammed into Drakon knocking across the road. Sara continued to drive. She was going about 90. Lucky for her, there was no traffic along the road. She didn't slow down until she felt Nick's hand on her shoulder. "It's okay Sara. I think we lost him."  
"I'm not taking any chances." She took her eyes off the road to get a look at Nick. His face was red and sweat was rolling down his forehead. His right arm was against his chest. "I'm getting you to the hospital."  
"Call Grissom, let him know that Drakon can't be trusted." Nick said. Sara took one hand off the wheel and grabbed her phone off the floorboard. She dialed in the familiar number. Grissom answered it with the first ring. "Hello?"  
"Griss, it's Sara. Listen to me. The man can't be trusted. Don't go near him. He broke Nick's arm. I'm taking him to the hospital now."  
"Alright, I will. We'll meet you at the hospital." Grissom hung up the phone and looked at the others in the break room. Catherine was sitting on the couch with Lindsey, who had just woke up not too long ago. "Who was that on the phone?"  
"Sara. The mystery man broke Nick's arm."  
"What?" Warrick said getting up. He and Catherine along with Lindsey followed Grissom out of the break room.   
They reached the parking lot and got in Grissom's Tahoe and headed for the hospital.   
  
They arrived at the emergency room and walked in. They saw Sara standing against the wall. Warrick was the first to reach her. "Hey Sara." He said and pulled her into a hug. He could feel her shaking. He pulled back and looked into her eyes. "Are you okay?"  
"I'm a little shook up. But I'll be fine." The others gave her hugs as well.   
"How's Nick?" Catherine asked.   
"In pain. He's getting his arm worked on right now." Sara couldn't believe what was happening. It all seemed like a blur. She could feel herself start to get dizzy. Warrick noticed. He grabbed her arm and led her to a chair. "Sit down." He helped her sit and then pulled himself a chair beside her. "What happened?"  
Sara looked at him and then back up to the others. She told them every thing that had happened. When she was done she looked back at Warrick. "I'm glad you all are here."  
"Where else would we be?" He said giving her his best smile.   
Lindsey looked up to see Nick coming out of the doctor's office. "Uncle Nick!" She yelled and ran to him and hugged him. Nick put his left arm around her shoulder. "Hey Linds." They walked to where the others were. Catherine gave him a hug as well. She was being extra careful not to hurt him anymore than he already was. After Grissom and Warrick got done telling Nick they were glad he was okay, Nick walked to where Sara was still sitting. He reached down with is left hand and tucked some hair behind her ear. She got up and hugged him tightly. Nick could tell she was still upset. He wanted to get her home. He looked over at Grissom. "If you don't mind. I want to take Sara home and get some rest."  
"Go ahead." Grissom looked at the two and wished there was more he could do for them. "You might want to know that our suspects are all in jail now waiting to be tried in court."  
Nick only nodded. He was too tired to come up with a response. Sara pulled away from him. "Nick, I want to go home now."  
"We're going honey." Nick kissed her forehead and they told the others good-bye. They all walked out of the hospital and headed out.  
  
Sara and Nick arrived at their home safely. Sara led Nick to the sofa and watched him sit down. She felt so bad for him. She knew he was in a great deal of pain. She hoped the medicine the doctor gave him would kick in soon. "Are you hungry? Thirsty?" She asked him.   
Nick smiled at her. "Could you get me some water?"  
"Sure, I'll be right back." Sara left the living room and walked into the kitchen. She grabbed a glass out of a cabinet and then walked to the fridge. She didn't care what anyone said, bottled water was a whole lot better than the faucet. She grabbed the jug of water and poured some in the glass. She put the jug back in the fridge and walked back in the living room. Nick was sitting there staring at the blank TV screen. She handed him the glass. Nick drank about half of it in one huge swallow. He put the glass down on the table beside him. He glanced up and noticed Sara just staring at him. "What's wrong?"  
"Nothing. I'm just glad you're okay." She tried her best to give him a smile. The truth was that she wasn't okay. She was terrified. This guy could have killed them both.   
Nick could sense her worry. He reached over and pulled her down with his good hand. She sat down on the couch beside of him and put her head on his shoulder. He wished he could hold her better, but with one arm in a cast, that was quite difficult. "Don't worry. I'm fine." He told her.  
Sara carefully wrapped her arms around him. She tried not to touch his arm. "I don't know what I would have done if I lost you."  
Nick put his arm around her. "You didn't lose me. I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere."  
She kissed his neck. "I love you. You know that right?"  
"Yes I do. I love you too."   
Sara pulled herself up. "I think I'm going to take a shower and then go to bed. You should get some rest too."  
Nick nodded. He got off the couch and helped Sara up. He walked with her to the bathroom. "I'll keep the bed warm for you." He told her.  
"Thanks. I won't take too long." She leaned over and kissed him. Nick savored every minute of the kiss. He was the one to pull back. "Take your shower. I'll be here when you get out."  
She kissed him one last time and then stepped in the bathroom and closed the door. Moments later Nick heard the shower cut on. He walked in the bedroom and pulled down the sheets. He tried his best to change his clothes. Finally after several attempts, he was able to get his shirt off. He decided there was no way he was going to try and put another one on. So he just put on some old sweat pants and crawled in on his side of the bed. He flipped on the television and waited for Sara to come out.   
After twenty minutes had passed he decided to see what was going on. The shower was still going. He walked up to the bathroom door. "Sara?" He didn't get an answer. So he decided to go in. He walked in and the fog from the hot water filled the room. He saw Sara's head resting against the shower wall. He saw her chest heaving up and down and knew instantly she was crying. He grabbed a towel and opened the shower door. He turned off the water. "Come on sweetie. Let's get you out." He handed her the towel and she wrapped it around herself. Nick helped her out of the shower. She immediately wrapped her arms around him and continued to cry. Nick felt helpless. He hated seeing her like this. He wasn't really even sure why she was so upset. He led her back to the bedroom and sat her down on the bed. He kneeled down before her and cupped her face with his hand. "What's wrong?"  
Sara looked at him with tears rolling down her face. "I could have lost you."  
"You didn't and you never will." He gave her one of his famous smiles. "You're stuck with me for a very long time. So get used to it."  
She smiled. "If I must." She replied jokingly.  
"There's my girl." He leaned over and kissed her. Sara wrapped her arms around him and pulled him as close to her as he could get. When they pulled apart Nick wiped the rest of her tears off her face. "Now, do you feel better?"  
"Yeah. Thanks Nick."  
"You're welcome." He got up and sat down on the bed beside her. "Now why don't you get changed and we'll watch TV until we fall asleep."  
"Sounds good to me." She got up and gathered some sleeping clothes. She changed and crawled in the bed beside Nick and curled up against him. They soon fell asleep leaving the television on.  
  
Lindsey woke up to find that she overslept. She knew that it was a school day, why didn't her mom wake her up? She was hungry so she got out of her warm comfortable bed. She decided to check in on her mom and see if she was even up. She walked to her mom's bedroom door and slightly knocked. "Mom?" No answer. "Mommy?" Again no answer. Lindsey turned the door knob and opened the door. She walked over to the bed and saw that her mother was still asleep. She leaned over and kissed her. "Mommy, get up. I'm late for school."  
Catherine opened her eyes and noticed her daughter was about two inches in front of her face. "Linds?" Catherine looked at the clock. It read 8:30 a.m. "You're late for school." Catherine pushed the covers off of her and got out of bed. "Why didn't you wake me up?"  
"I just did. Besides I just now got up too." Lindsey walked with her mom out of the room and into the kitchen. "Can't I just skip school today? Please."  
Catherine yawned. She had gone back to the lab to take her and Lindsey home. They went straight to bed as soon as they came home. She looked at her daughter and saw the pleading begging eyes asking to stay home. "Pretty please." Lindsey said again.  
"All right, all right. You can stay home." Lindsey started jumping up and down. "Just this once." Catherine informed her.  
Lindsey gave her a huge hug. "Thanks mommy. Can we go see Uncle Nick?"  
Catherine knew she was going to regret her decision. "Maybe later. Right now, we need to eat some breakfast." Catherine thought to herself. 'And take an eight hour nap.'  
Lindsey looked through the cabinets trying to find something to eat. "Do you want some cereal?" She asked.  
"No thanks sweetie. If you want some though, you can have some."  
"Nope, I just wanted to ask you. How about pancakes?"  
Catherine sighed. "I'm too tired to cook."  
"Let's go to IHOP!!!"   
Catherine sighed. She was so tired, she didn't even feel like arguing. "Fine, get dressed."  
"Wahoo!!!!" Lindsey ran into her bedroom and started looking for some clothes to wear.  
Catherine only shook her head. She looked over at the phone and decided to call Grissom. She grabbed it and dialed his number. She got his answering machine. 'He's probably still asleep.' The machine beeped. "Hey Gil, it's me. I just wanted to let you that Lindsey and I are going to go out to eat at IHOP. We overslept so she's staying out of school today. We'll probably swing by Nick and Sara's later. I just wanted to let you know. I'll talk to you later. Love you. Bye." Catherine hung up the phone and walked into her bedroom and began making up her bed.   
  
Greg woke up around 10. He wanted to call Nick and see how he was doing. Warrick had told him last night what had happened. Greg grabbed his phone and dialed the number. It rang about four times before Sara answered it. "Hello?"  
"Hey Sara, it's Greg. How are you?"  
"I'm fine thanks. How are you?"  
"Good I guess. Can I talk to Nick?"  
"Sure, hold on a minute." He could hear her walking through the house and give Nick the phone. "Hey Greg."  
"Hey Nick. I'm sorry about your arm. How are you doing this morning?"  
"Thanks. I'm doing better. The pain medicine finally kicked in. How are you?"  
"Not bad."  
"I'm sorry about Sandi. I know how much you liked her."  
Greg shrugged. "It's okay. She wasn't worth it."  
"Still I know it's hard."  
"Well all it means is that I'm single again and I can go out and party." Greg had a smile on his face now. He was ready to go out and party too.  
"That sounds like fun."  
"Yep. Well, I'm going to let you go so you can get some more rest. Are you working tonight?"  
"I'm not sure. If it's up to Sara and Grissom probably not."  
"Well, you shouldn't with a broke arm anyway."  
"Guess not."  
"I'll see you later then. Bye."  
"Bye Greg." Both hung up the phone. Greg looked around his room and decided that it was too quiet in there. He decided to crank the radio up and see how many neighbors he could bother.  
  
Catherine pulled up to Nick and Sara's house. Lindsey was out the door before her mom could put the car in park. The little girl ran up to the door and rang the bell. Moments later Sara answered the door. She was surprised to see Lindsey there. "Hey Sara!" Lindsey gave her a huge hug. Sara smiled. "Hey Linds. What are you doing out of school?"  
"We slept in. So mommy decided I could skip just this once."  
Catherine walked up beside her daughter and gave Sara a tired look. "Only this once. I don't know what I'm going to do when summer gets here."  
Sara laughed and invited them inside. Lindsey walked in to find Nick sitting on the couch watching television. She ran to him. "Hey Uncle Nick!" She gave him a huge hug as well.   
Nick ruffled her hair with his left hand. "Hey. What are you doing out of school?"  
Lindsey laughed. "Sara just asked me the same thing. I got to lay out today cause I overslept."  
Nick looked over at Catherine. "Do you think that excuse would with Grissom?"  
Catherine grinned. "I don't think so Nicky." She walked over and sat on the chair to the left of the couch. Sara sat down on the couch between Nick and Lindsey. Lindsey had already taken over the television. She flipped it to some cartoon channel and began watching Spongebob Squarepants. She started laughing and gave a glance to Nick. "Have you seen this cartoon?"  
"No. I haven't." He replied and looked at the screen.   
Catherine sighed. "Lucky you. Lindsey has to watch this everyday."  
Lindsey playfully stuck her tongue at her mother. Catherine mimicked her.  
"Uncle Warrick likes it. We watch it when I spend the night with him." Lindsey moved around on the couch until she got really comfortable and tuned everything out but her show.  
Catherine looked over at Nick. "How's the arm?"  
"It's not too bad as long as the medicine is working."  
Sara looked at Catherine. "He had a hard time sleeping last night. So he should definitely stay out of work tonight."  
Catherine agreed. "Besides you can't do much with a broken arm. Even if you wanted to come in, there's not much you could do."  
They talked for another hour until Catherine needed to get home and get some more rest. "Come on Lindsey. We need to go home and let Nick get some rest."  
Lindsey sighed. She was happy right where she was. "Okay." She leaned over and gave Nick another hug. "I hope your arm gets better soon."  
"Me too."  
Lindsey got up off the couch and followed her mom to the door. Sara was right in behind them. "Thanks for the visit." She told them.  
"No problem. We wanted to see how Nick was feeling today." Catherine told her. "Bye Sara. I'll see you tonight."  
"Bye Sara!" Lindsey yelled. She was already at the car waiting to go home.   
"Bye Lindsey." Sara looked at Catherine and told her bye. She watched as Catherine and Lindsey got in the car and drove off. As soon as the car was out of sight she shut the door and walked back in the living room with Nick.  
  
Later that night, Catherine dropped Lindsey off at the babysitters and then went to work. Lindsey wasn't the least bit tired. She decided to go outside in the back yard and look at some more stars. She told the sitter, who happened to be on the phone, and walked out. Lindsey stopped in the middle of the yard. She glanced up and watched how they shined. She heard a noise that sounded like someone was walking on leaves. She glanced over and saw Drakon. She was about to head back inside when he called to her. "Lindsey wait."  
She turned and looked at him. "Why should I? You hurt Nick."  
Drakon bent down to be more eye level with her. "I didn't mean to hurt him. He was in trouble." He gave her his best smile. "You have to believe me. I would never hurt any of you."  
Lindsey was confused. She gave him an odd look. "If that's so, why break Nick's arm?"  
"He and Sara were about to be attacked by some very bad people. They didn't even know they were in danger. I tried to push them out of the way, but Nick thought I was fixing to hurt Sara. So he reached out to block me and my hand grabbed his arm. I tried to move him out of the way to save Sara, but I pushed him too hard and his arm broke."  
"You're lying!" She yelled and turned to run back inside. Before she could get two feet, he grabbed her. He had her by the arm and used his other hand to pick her up. Lindsey was about to scream. He covered her mouth and took off out of the yard. She tried to kick, but it didn't do any good. She lost one of her shoes in the process. 'Mommy!!' Her mind screamed. 'Please help me!!' Tears started to roll down her face as they got further and further away.  
The sitter got off the phone and looked around for Lindsey. She looked in the spare bedroom and noticed that the little girl wasn't there. She went outside and called for her. No answer was given. She walked out further into the yard and saw Lindsey's shoe lying on the ground. She ran inside and dialed Catherine's number.   
  
Catherine was sitting in the break room with Warrick, Sara, and Grissom. They were having a cup of coffee before they got started on some new cases. Catherine's cell phone rang silencing the rest of the room. She pulled her phone out and answered. "Hello?"  
"Catherine, it's Tracey." Catherine knew immediately something wasn't right.  
"What's wrong?"  
"Lindsey is missing."  
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN LINDSEY IS MISSING!!" Catherine could feel herself begin to shake. The others looked at her with concern on their faces. Grissom sat down beside her.   
"I don't what happened. I was on the phone and when I got off, I went to check on her and she wasn't inside. So, I went outside and I didn't see her. I just saw her shoe on the ground." Tracey was crying.  
Catherine couldn't think at all. She started breathing in ragged breaths. Grissom put his arm around her and tried to calm her down. "Catherine, we're going to find her. I promise. You just need to calm down."  
She glared at him. "CALM DOWN!" She yelled at him. "Gil, my daughter is missing and you expect me to calm down."  
"You're going to have a panic attack." He told her simply. He took the phone from her hand and continued to talk to Tracey. He asked if she saw anything. The answer he received was no. He told Tracey they would be there soon and not to mess anything up outside. He hung up the phone and looked at Warrick and Sara. "I need you two to go to Tracey's and check out the back yard."  
Warrick and Sara nodded and looked at Catherine. "Don't worry Cath, we'll get her back." Warrick said and gave her a quick hug.  
Catherine had tears streaming down her face, but her breathing was now controlled. "I'm going too."  
Grissom wasn't sure if that was a good idea. He was about to voice his opinion, but Catherine must have sensed his concern. She looked at him. "I have to go. She's my baby. I can't just sit here, with her missing."  
"Do we have any idea who might have taken her?" Sara asked.   
"I don't know." Catherine told her.  
Warrick spoke up though. "I think I do." All eyes turned toward him. "Drakon."  
Catherine knew it had to be him. "We have to get her back."  
"We will." Grissom replied and placed a firm hand on her shoulder. He looked at Sara and Warrick. "Change of plans. Catherine and I will go to Tracey's house. I need you two to find Drakon."  
"Grissom, I want to find." Catherine was interrupted.  
"No." Grissom turned to give her a 'and that's final expression' and then turned his attention back to the other two. "I need the two of you to seek him and find out what he wants."  
Sara nodded. "You got it." She and Warrick walked out the door and headed for the Tahoe. Grissom grabbed Catherine and pulled her into a tight embrace. When they pulled apart he gave her a brief but heart felt kiss. After pulling away for a second time, they headed out of the room and made their way to the parking lot to go to Tracey's.  
  
Warrick was driving around aimlessly. Sara pulled out her cell phone. Nick needed to know what happened. She dialed the now familiar number and waited for him to answer. "Hello?"  
"Hey Nick."  
"Sara, what's wrong? You sound upset."  
"I am. Nick, Lindsey's been kidnapped." Nick said nothing for a least a minute. Finally he answered. "What happened?"  
She told him everything she knew and that she and Warrick were looking Drakon. "Sara please be careful."  
"I will, I promise." She told him that she loved him and hung up the phone. She took a quick glance at Warrick. He looked as upset as she felt. She reached over and squeezed his shoulder. "We'll find her."  
He looked over and smiled. "I know we will. Drakon's gonna pay."  
"That he is." She looked out the window and tried to think where he could possibly be.  
  
Grissom and Catherine were out in Tracey's backyard looking for any sign that could possibly led them to understand what happened to Lindsey. Catherine was holding the Lindsey's shoe like a lifeline. After doing an extensive search, they turned up nothing. Catherine could feel herself getting even more depressed. Grissom placed his arm around her and kissed her cheek. "We're going to find her. Warrick and Sara are out there now looking for them."  
She turned to him. "I need to be out there. I can't wait here."  
"All right." He led her back to the Tahoe and helped her in. He shut the door and went around to the driver's side and got in. He started the vehicle and turned to her. "I'm sorry."  
She looked at him quizzically. "What are you sorry for?"  
"That there's nothing I could do to take your pain away." He grabbed her hand and squeezed it.  
"It'll go away once I get a hold of that bastard."   
Grissom had no doubt about that. In fact, he almost felt sorry for Drakon once she did catch him. Almost.  
  
After an hour of driving, Warrick and Sara were getting aggravated. "Where the hell is he?" Sara said.   
"I don't know." Warrick turned to look at her. "They could be anywhere."  
"Maybe I should just take a walk. He usually comes around when I'm alone."  
Warrick didn't like that plan at all. "No way Sara. We've lost Lindsey, there's no way we're going to lose you too."  
Sara grinned at him. "Thanks, but I'm starting to think that's the only way we'll find him. He doesn't like a lot of people around."  
"Then I'll walk with you. It worked for you and Nick."  
"Until he broke Nick's arm." She looked at Warrick. "I don't want anything to happen to you."  
"Sara, I'm not going to let you."  
"What choice do we have? If we send Catherine alone, she'll kill him before we find out where he took Lindsey. If you come with me, he'll attack you."  
Warrick pulled the Tahoe over and killed the ignition. He looked at Sara. "Too bad. We're a team Sara. I'm not letting you or anyone else walk into some kind of trap with out help. If Drakon wants a piece of me, let him bring it."  
Sara nodded. "Then let's do it." She opened her door and got out. She met Warrick in front of the Tahoe and they began walking along the darkened street. They walked in silence glancing at the shadows and watching for anything out of the ordinary. A few minutes later, Sara's cell phone rang. She reached down and pulled it off the clip on her pants. "Sidle."  
"Hey Sara, it's Greg."  
"Hey Greg."  
"I heard about Lindsey."  
"Yeah, we're trying to find her." Sara walked over to a trash bin and looked inside. It was empty.  
"Anyway, the reason why I was calling was to tell you that you might want to check old abandoned houses for her. I mean that's where all the other creepy psychos take their victims."  
She didn't need to hear the word victim. Lindsey would be fine. "Thanks for the info. Greg."  
"You're welcome. Um, Sara?"  
"Yes?"  
"You might want to watch your step." Before she could comment, Sara's foot hit a large crack on the ground and about tripped. Warrick ran to her and asked if she was okay. She looked at him. Fear soared through her body. "This isn't Greg, is it?"  
Warrick grabbed the phone from her. "Greg?"  
"Oh hey Warrick. Nice shirt." Warrick turned around and began looking through the spaces in the alley. "Didn't know you could voice imitations Drakon."  
"One of my many talents you don't know about."  
Warrick was done playing games. "Where's Lindsey?"  
"She's safe for now. It's you and Sara who aren't safe."  
Warrick looked at Sara and motioned for her to go back toward the Tahoe. They began walking backwards. Drakon laughed on the other end. "You can't outrun them."  
"We're gonna try." Warrick said and he grabbed Sara's arm and they began running toward the Tahoe. They stopped in their tracks. There before them blocking their way to freedom was the Vampyr. Warrick got his first good look at them. They were tall as an average human. Their eyes were a dark purple. Their hands were too long with four scaly fingers on each hand. They had razor sharp teeth with two fangs that extended lower than the rest. With faces that showed no emotion and no hair on their heads, Warrick couldn't tell on from the other. He had no clue if they were male or female. All he knew is that he and Sara had to get out of there. They turned around and ran back toward the alley. Sara could feel her feet hit the pavement hard. Her breathing was becoming more ragged. She felt herself tiring easily.  
"We have to split up." She yelled to Warrick.   
"No we're not." Warrick wasn't about to have a repeat of the last time they had to run for their lives. He grabbed Sara's hand ensuring that she wouldn't try and go another way.   
Sara took a quick glance behind her. Yep, they were following. She noticed that their feet never touched the ground. 'It's like they're floating.' She thought to herself. She and Warrick rounded a corner and saw a door. "Quick, inside there." She told him.   
They ran to the door and pulled it open. Warrick slammed it shut and leaned against it catching his breath. "Man, that was close." He locked the door and then helped Sara put an empty dresser against it.  
"You think that'll hold 'em?" Sara asked.  
"I don't know, but it's buying us a little time. Let's see where we are." They walked along a hallway to another door. Music could be heard blaring through the walls. Warrick opened the door and noticed they were in a club. He and Sara stepped out into the crowd and made their way to an empty table and sat down. He looked at her and grinned. "I don't about you, but I think I could use a beer right now."  
She started laughing. Soon he joined her. They really had no clue what was so funny, but the need to laugh was overwhelming. Once they got the laughing out of their system, Warrick pulled out his cell phone and dialed Grissom and told him everything that happened.  
"How do I know that's really you then Warrick? You told me that Drakon could imitate voices." Grissom said on the other line.  
"Ask me a question that I can answer."  
"What did I tell you I was in high school?"  
"A ghost." Warrick replied with no hesitation.   
"Okay, I know it's you."  
"What do you want us to do now?"   
"Catherine and I are riding around looking for Drakon. I think you two should head back to the lab."  
"What a minute? How do I know it's really you?" Warrick asked not realizing that he could have been talking to Drakon the whole time.  
"Warrick, you came to me when you had a problem with the mayor."  
"Okay, just checking." Warrick took a glance over at Sara. She had her head on the table. He thought for a minute that she had gone to sleep, but she lifted her head back up. "All right Griss. We'll head back, but you and Catherine better be careful."  
"We will. Bye."  
Warrick hung up the phone and told Sara what Grissom had said. "Why do we have to go to the lab? They need help."  
"I don't know, that's just what he said."  
"One other question, how are we going to get back?"  
Warrick had temporarily forgot they didn't have their Tahoe. "I guess we call cab."  
"Great." She said and got up. Warrick did the same and they made their way to the front of the club and walked out into the night.  
  
Lindsey was alone and scared. Drakon had left her a while back and she had tried to figure out where she was. She knew she had to be in an old house. She was locked in a bedroom. She walked over to the window and looked out. She could see water and a dock for a boat. She tried to open the window, but it was nailed shut. She wished she had a phone. She would call her mom and she would soon be out of here. She walked over to the door and tried the doorknob. No surprise it was locked. She gave the lock a closer look. She noticed that she might be able to get out after all. She noticed that the knob was old and that it could fall off any minute. With that knowledge, she began pulling and twisting it. Finally it fell out onto her hand and the door swung open. 'Sweet.' She thought and walked out of the bedroom. She looked at the rooms upstairs for a phone but didn't see one. She walked downstairs and checked the rooms. "This place is so old, it's never seen a phone." She said out loud to break the silence. She decided she should use this time to get out. She ran out the front door and down the steps. She had no clue where she was, but she knew that she needed to leave and right now the boat was her best ticket out of there.   
She ran down to the dock and walked to the boat. It wasn't a huge boat, more like a canoe. Lindsey didn't care. It had paddles and she could use them. She quickly hopped in the boat and grabbed the paddles and paddled herself away from the creepy old house.  
  
Catherine was getting more and more worried. Grissom had told her the conversation he had with Warrick. They started looking for old abandoned houses. Luckily Grissom knew of some. He drove as quick as he could to them. So far they found three. All three of them were empty as well. "What about the old houses on the river?" Catherine asked.   
"That was my next stop."   
They drove to the house by the river. Catherine noticed that the front door was wide open. "This has to be it." She got out of the car and ran toward the house, with Grissom right behind her. She walked in and called for Lindsey. She didn't get an answer. She ran upstairs and checked each room. She noticed that one of the doors was missing a doorknob. She found it on the ground. She ran back downstairs. "They were here." She told Grissom.  
"I think so too. I saw some areas that weren't covered with dust."  
She and Grissom ran back outside. Catherine noticed the dock. She ran down there and noticed that there wasn't a boat. She also noticed foot and shoeprints along the dusty dock. "LINDSEY!!!" She yelled.   
"Grissom, she's on a boat." Catherine told him as she ran back up the hill to him. Grissom nodded and they got back in the car and pulled out. Grissom decided to take the road along the river to see if they could find her. Catherine stared out the window. The moon was bright enough that it helped her see along the water. She saw a dark glimpse of something moving in the water. "Gil, stop."  
Grissom stopped the car and watched as she got out. "LINDSEY!!!"   
  
Lindsey was getting tired of paddling. Her arms were starting to hurt. "LINDSEY!!" She heard it again. The first time she heard it she thought she was imagining it. She looked around her and saw a figure along the road. "MOMMY!!"  
She was incredibly happy to see her mother. She turned the boat toward the road and paddled her hardest.   
Catherine ran to the edge of the water and watched as her daughter's boat came closer and closer to shore. Grissom was soon right beside her waiting to help pull the boat in. Once the boat was in reaching distance, he reached down and pulled it onto the land. Catherine grabbed Lindsey and held her. Both were crying as Catherine placed kisses along her daughter's head and face.  
Soon all three were back in the Tahoe. Grissom pulled out his cell phone and dialed Warrick. "Brown."  
"Warrick, it's Grissom the ghost." He said letting the other man know it was really him. "We've got Lindsey and we're heading back to the lab."  
"Thank God." Warrick said and breathed a sigh of relief.  
Grissom said good-bye and began his drive back to the lab.  
  
Greg, Sara, and Warrick were in the break room waiting for the others to come back. Sara had called Nick and told him about the others finding Lindsey. Greg was leaning his chair back looking at the exhausted faces of his friends. They had told him everything that had happened. "What do we do now?" He asked them. "I mean how do we stop these creatures?"  
"I don't know." Warrick said. He was sitting on the couch with Sara.   
"I don't think we can stop them. Besides Drakon said they would be gone soon anyway." Sara told him.  
"You can't believe anything he says." Warrick replied.   
"I say we stake them." Greg announced making the other two look at him. "What? Drakon said that they are like our vampires right?"  
"Right." This came from Warrick.  
"Then they might die like them. You know stake through the heart, or sunlight. Heck, we can chop their heads off if we have to."  
"What, you're Greg the Vampire Slayer now?" Warrick said.  
"Hey, it's the best plan we've got. Why not?"  
"Because it's suicidal. There's no way of knowing that staking them is going to work."  
"Greg's right." Both men looked over at Sara.   
"What?" Warrick looked at her.  
"We have to stop them before they kill anyone else. I'm not sure if guns will work on them, but face it stabbing them might be the best option we've got."  
Greg smiled at her. "That's my girl."  
"You two are stupid!" Warrick shouted. "All you're going to accomplish is getting yourselves killed." He looked at Sara. "Thank about it Sara. You and Nick are engaged. Nick would die if something happened to you."  
"He might die if we don't do anything." Desperation was coming out of her voice.  
"I can make some stakes." Greg said and turned his attention to Warrick. "We need your help. We have no idea how many of them there are."  
Warrick inhaled deeply. He knew this was a very bad idea. He also knew Grissom wouldn't let them step out of the room with an idea like that. "Greg, we're not super heroes. This isn't some television show."  
"Don't you think I don't know that? Give me some credit okay. I know it's dangerous, but so is not doing anything. What happens when Drakon decides that kidnapping little girls, and trying to seduce women isn't fun anymore? What happens when he comes after Jasmine?" Greg looked him hard in the eyes. "You can't sit there and tell me you aren't going to do anything about it. He's already taken Sandi away from me. He broke Nick's arm and he took Lindsey. What makes you think he's going to stop there?"  
Warrick was about to respond when Grissom came in and noticed the heated looks on his team's faces. "Am I interrupting something?"  
Warrick looked over at Grissom. "Tell Greg that's he not going out and killing the Vampyr."  
Grissom looked at Greg. "What's going on Greg?"  
"I just told Warrick and Sara that I think we should go out and kill them. We can't let them hurt anyone else."  
"Exactly how are planning on doing that?"  
"Buffy style." Sara stated.   
Grissom shook his head. "NO."  
"Come on Grissom. You know that we have do something." Greg stated.  
"Greg it's suicide and you aren't doing it."   
Greg got so mad he left, leaving the others speechless. Sara walked out after him. She found him in the locker room gathering his stuff. "What are you doing?" She asked him.  
"I'm going to kill them. Staci is in jail because of them."  
"Greg, Sandi is in a psych ward because she thinks she's a vampire."   
"Yeah, we'll she got that idea from them." Greg slammed his locker door closed and tried to walk out, but Sara grabbed his arm.   
"Look Greg, I'm not too keen on going out and getting myself killed. I do agree with you though. We have to do something and I think that we need to talk to Drakon."  
"Maybe he's the master." Greg told her.  
Sara gave him a confused look and was about to comment but he stopped her. "Forget it, Buffy reference. So, you wanna take a ride?"  
She grinned. "I can't let you go alone."  
Greg smiled at her. "Then let's go." They walked out of the locker room and headed for the parking lot. Before they got in Greg's car, they heard Warrick yell, "Wait!!"  
Greg looked at him. "Warrick?"  
"You're not going without me." He looked at Sara. "Besides I made Nick a promise that I would watch out for you."  
"Glad to have your help." Sara said and they got in Greg's car. Warrick and Greg in the front, with Sara in the back.  
  
Grissom knew they were gone. He looked at Catherine. "Why don't they listen to me anymore?"  
"Oh, they listen. It's just they're stubborn."  
"Well this time that might be the death of them." Grissom looked over at the couch were Lindsey was sound asleep. "Do you want to take her home?"  
"No, I think we'll both stay here for the night."  
Grissom nodded. He watched as Catherine walked to the couch and sat down on the opposite end of Lindsey. She leaned her head against the armrest and soon drifted off to sleep. Grissom walked out and left them. He wondered if he should call Nick and tell him what was going on. He knew that if he did, Nick would be out looking for the rest of them. 'Maybe I shouldn't tell him.' He thought. Besides that would mean four of the people he cared about would be in danger.  
  
Nick tried to go back to sleep after talking to Sara, but he couldn't. His mind kept him awake. At least he didn't have to worry about Lindsey anymore. He was so glad Catherine found her. He finally gave up on getting any more sleep. He glanced at his alarm clock. It read 4:03 a.m. 'Sara will be home in a few more hours.' He thought. That should take his mind off some of the bad things running through his brain. He pushed the on button of the T.V. remote control and began trying to find something decent to watch. After a few minutes of channel surfing, his phone rang. He picked it up. "Hello?"  
"Hey Nick, it's Sara." She sounded frantic.  
"Hey sweetie, what's wrong?"  
"I need your help. I was trying to find Drakon, but he found me first. I'm locked in an abandoned house near the river. Can you come and get me out?"  
"I'll be right there." Nick hung up the phone and scrambled to get his clothes on. He had no clue that Drakon was holding a phone on the other end laughing.  
  
Greg drove around looking for old abandoned places that Drakon could be hiding at. They found an old house near a cemetery. Greg pulled up in the driveway and glanced at the house. It looked like it came straight out of a horror movie. He looked over at Warrick. "What do you think?"  
"I think this stupid. We're going to get ourselves killed."  
"If the Vampyr stay, we're all going to die anyway." Greg opened his door and stepped out. Warrick and Sara also got out and followed Greg to the front door of the house. Greg reached for the knob and turned it. The door opened with a loud squeak. Greg glanced over at Sara. "Ladies first."  
Sara rolled her eyes and walked past both men and stepped into the house. She noticed that all the furniture was covered in plastic and that there were cobwebs along the walls and ceiling. Nothing had been in the house for years. She looked at the others. "I don't think this is it."  
"Me neither. The area hasn't been disturbed." Warrick commented.   
Greg sighed. "Well, that's one less house to check."  
"What makes you so sure that they are staying in a house?" Warrick asked. "They could be living in caves or a cemetery."  
"I hadn't thought about that." Greg and the others turned and walked back toward the car. "Maybe we should try a cave."  
Warrick opened the passenger side door and got inside. He waited until the others were in before he spoke again. "You do realize that they could be anywhere in Nevada. We might never find them."  
"We have to."  
"If we don't then what?"  
"More people will die."  
Warrick looked at Greg. "No one else has died since the other night. I know this is going to sound harsh, but maybe after feeding off those twenty people, the Vampyr just aren't hungry anymore."  
"And you people wonder why I'm a vegetarian." Sara said from the back seat.  
Warrick glanced down at his watch. They had been driving around aimlessly for what seemed like hours. In reality it had only been maybe an hour or so. He tried to fight back a yawn. "I say we all go home and get some rest. Sara and I have had tough night."  
"I need to go home and check on Nick." Sara commented.  
Greg realized that they were right. "Fine, we'll head back. I still say we go searching later though."  
"All right. We will get together later on and do some searching before shift." Warrick agreed.  
Pleased with the compromise, Greg took them back to the lab so they could all go home.  
  
Nick arrived at the old house. He walked as quietly as he could up the steps and opened the door. He looked inside but didn't see anyone. He checked all the rooms, but Sara wasn't in any of them. He was about to go back upstairs and check again when he saw Drakon. "Where's Sara?"  
"She's safe." He answered Nick and walked toward him.  
"If you hurt her."  
"Relax Nick. I told you I'm a protector. It's not my job to hurt people."  
Nick about laughed. He pointed to his broken arm. "That's funny cause my arm was broken by you."  
"You don't understand. You and Sara were in danger. I was only trying to get you out of the way."  
Nick had enough of hearing this man's lies. "Where's Sara?"  
"She's not here."  
"She called me. I know she's here."   
Drakon laughed. "Nick, my boy, how incredibly naïve you are. I have many talents. One is changing my voice. I was the one who called you out here."  
Nick didn't want to believe him, but Drakon imitated Sara's voice. "Now do you believe me Nicky?"  
"What do you want?"  
Drakon answered him in his normal voice. "Your friends are going to try and kill the creatures. I need you stop them."  
"Why?"  
"The Vampyr are becoming extinct. There are only a few left. If your friends kill them, then they will be no more."  
"And that's a bad thing?" Nick personally thought killing the rest of them would be the best thing for humanity.  
"Are you that cruel? What if your team were the last humans on the planet, would you want some species to come and eliminate you?"  
"That's a completely different scenario and you know it."  
"Is it? Humans are one of the cruelest animals known to mankind. You murder your own kind for unjust things. You hurt your children, beat your women, and you have many that go hungry each day. How can you say that you are far more superior to the Vampyr?"  
The questions caused Nick to pause for a moment. He took a deep breath. "I don't understand why people do the evil things they do. But we have a way with dealing with them through our law systems. The Vampyr are going around killing innocents with out being punished. How can you stand there and tell me that they should be allowed to live?"  
"Because that's they way they survive. They have to have blood to live. How can you punish them for wanting to live?"  
Nick didn't know. He was so confused by that point he wasn't even sure which side he sympathized with more. Somewhere deep in the back of his mind he could understand Drakon's viewpoint. But his human side couldn't get past the twenty-three people who were killed.  
"I have no idea." He finally answered.   
"We will be gone tomorrow. I am a protector. You might not believe me, but I do care about your species. That's why I told Sara and Lindsey to go back inside. I didn't want to see anymore blood shed."  
Nick nodded. He knew he should go back home incase Sara was there and was starting to get worried about him.  
Nick turned around and headed began to leave when Drakon's voice stopped him. "If your team tries to attack us tonight, I will be forced to hurt them."  
"If you do, I'll hurt you back." Nick said and walked out.  
  
Sara arrived at her new home, walked in, and threw her keys on the table. "Nick, I'm home." She walked into the kitchen and noticed he wasn't there. "Nick?" She checked the rest of the rooms, but didn't see him. She walked back outside and noticed that his Tahoe wasn't in the driveway. "How did I miss that?" She asked herself. She went back inside and guessed that he must have gone to the store. She decided to go and take a shower and hopefully he'll be back before she got out.  
  
Warrick arrived home and dialed Jasmine's number. She answered it on the second ring. "Hello?"  
"Hey baby."  
"Warrick, how's my honey?"  
"Better now that I'm talking to you." He said and walked over to the couch and sat down.  
"That's sweet. You're in luck. I was fixing to leave for work."  
"Glad I caught you. I wanted to see how you were."  
"I'm good. How have you been? Has work been busy?"  
"I'm fine. Work is has been." He paused to think of an appropriate word that wouldn't disturb her. "Busy."  
"Well, I'm sure things will get better."  
"Yeah."  
"I hate to do this to you, but I have to get going."  
"That's fine. I just wanted to say hi. I love you."  
"Love you too. Bye."  
"Bye." Warrick hung up the phone and leaned back into the couch. 'What if they had attacked Jasmine? Would I be able to sit here knowing that those monsters are out there?' He asked himself. He knew that Greg was hurting and that Sara probably wanted to break Drakon's arm. Could they possibly find the Vampyr and stop them? Warrick had no clue, but he promised that he would go back out with Greg and Sara. He intended to keep that promise too.  
  
Catherine and Grissom drove Lindsey to school. Lindsey had wanted to stay out another day, but Catherine said no. After dropping the girl off, Grissom took Catherine back to his place. He fixed her breakfast and they sat back and talked for while. "Gil, I don't think that I thanked you last night for your help."  
"No thanks are necessary."   
"I don't know what I would have done if we hadn't found her." She shuddered at the thought. Grissom wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. "Don't worry. She's safe now."  
Catherine pulled away from his embrace and kissed him passionately on the lips. She wrapped one of her arms around his neck and the other on his back. She pulled him as close to her as she could. Grissom eagerly kissed her back. They somehow made their way from his kitchen to his bedroom. Catherine pulled away long enough to tell him that she loved him. Grissom smiled and leaned down for another kiss.  
  
Sara got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her. She walked into the bedroom and gathered some clothes. "Nick? Are you home?" She called hoping this time she would get an answer. All she got back was silence. She was beginning to become scared. She quickly dressed and pulled on her shoes. She grabbed her keys and headed toward her car. Right when she about to get she saw Nick coming down the road. She released the air she didn't know she was holding. Nick pulled up beside her and got out.   
Sara rushed to him and held him. He had no idea what was wrong. He placed his arm around her and rubbed her back. "What's wrong Sara?"  
She pulled away and looked at him. "I came home and you weren't here. I thought you might have gone to the store, so I took a shower. You weren't here when I got out, and I got nervous. I thought something might have happened to you."  
"I'm fine." He told her. "I went out for a ride. I needed to get some fresh air." He didn't want to tell her the real reason why he was out. He didn't want to upset her anymore that she already seemed.  
"I'm glad you're okay."  
Nick grabbed her hand and they walked back inside their house. "How was the rest of your shift?"  
She told him about Greg wanting to go after the Vampyr and how she, Warrick, and Greg went riding around looking for them. Nick wasn't thrilled about that. "Sara, you guys could have got hurt."  
"We didn't find anything. We're supposed to go looking again before shift."  
Nick grabbed her shoulder and looked at her. "You can't go."  
Shocked by his reaction, she stepped back. "Nick? What's going on? Where were you?"  
"I got a call last night. I thought it was you, but it was Drakon playing a trick on me. He told me that he knew you guys were going to try to go after the Vampyr."  
"What did he say?" Sara could feel Nick's hand squeezing harder on her shoulder. She wanted to tell him but she couldn't find the words. "He told me that if you attacked them, then he would have no choice but to hurt you."  
"I don't understand. I... they..." She didn't know what to say. Nick led her to the couch and sat her down. He took his hand off her shoulder and cupped her face. "I'm not going to let any of you go and fight them. I'm not going to lose you."  
He leaned in and kissed her. Sara swore she could feel every emotion he was feeling from the kiss. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed back just as passionately. The phone rang causing them to pull apart. Nick was closer to it, so he answered it. "Hello?"  
"Nick, hey man, it's Warrick."  
"Hey Warrick. What's up?"  
"Did Sara tell you about what happened last night with Greg?"  
"Yeah, she just told me and I just told her that there was no way I was letting you guys go and fight them."  
"That's good to hear. I was about to tell you to convince her to stay."  
"No convincing would have been needed." Nick looked over at Sara, she had her head down on the armrest and her eyes closed. From the way her breathing had slowed, Nick knew she was asleep. He smiled.  
"Okay, I just wanted to give you a heads up."  
"Thanks Warrick."  
"Anytime. When do you think you'll come back to work?"  
"I wish I could come back now, even if all I could do was be there for moral support."  
"Getting tired of being alone at home huh?"  
"Yeah. Pretty much."  
"All right, well I hope I'll see you soon. I'll let you get back to Sara."  
"Thanks for calling."  
"No problem. I'll talk to you later."  
"Bye." Nick hung up the phone and focused his attention to the sleeping form of his girlfriend. He knew she would be a lot more comfortable in their bed, but with a broken arm, he couldn't pick her up. He shook her shoulder gently. "Hey Sara, wake up sweetie."  
She opened her eyes slightly. "What?"  
"You need to go to bed."   
"I'm too tired to move." She closed her eyes again. Nick smiled. He took her hand and pulled her up. He stood up and walked her to their bed and pulled down the covers. She got in and turned over on her side. Nick tucked her in the best way he could and kissed her forehead. "Night Sara." He thought he heard her mumble a goodnight. He walked in the kitchen and decided to fix himself something for breakfast.  
  
It was around six that evening when Greg dragged himself out of bed. He knew he had a busy night ahead of him. He decided earlier that he wasn't going to risk the lives of his friends. He was going out by himself to find the vampyr. He walked into the living room and grabbed his duffle bag. He needed something to carry his weapons in. He knew he needed some stakes. He decided to make a quick trip into the woods to gather sticks to sharpen down. He took one final look at his apartment. "I might not be coming back." He said out loud. "But I'm not going down without fighting." He gathered his C.D. collection and walked toward his car. This called for kick ass music and that's what he planned on doing. Kicking some ass!! His first selection he thought was most appropriate. The Fight Song by Marilyn Manson.  
  
Warrick tried dialing Greg's number but he kept getting the answering machine. So he tried his cell phone and again he got Greg's voice mail. Warrick slammed the phone down. He knew that Greg was going to end up dying if he didn't stop him. Warrick decided to call Sara and see if Greg had called her. Nick answered the phone.   
"Hey Nick, can I talk to Sara for a minute?"  
"Sure, hold on a sec."  
Sara soon answered the phone. "Hey Warrick."  
"Hey Sara, have you heard from Greg?"  
"No, I haven't. He never called so I just guessed that he knew it was a bad idea."  
"That's not what I was thinking. I think Greg's trying to play hero and going alone."  
"We can't let him do that. We have to find him."  
"All right, I'll pick you up and we'll go search for him."  
"Okay, I'll be waiting. Bye." Warrick hung the phone up and gathered his jacket. "This is gonna be a long night." He said to himself.   
  
Sara hung the phone up and stared at Nick. "Greg's gone. I think he's trying to find the vampyr."  
"We have to stop him." Nick told her. She nodded. "I know, Warrick is on his way over now. We're going to go find him."  
"I'm going with you."  
"Are you sure?" Sara knew that if they ended up having to fight for their lives Nick would have a disadvantage.   
"Yes. Greg's my friend. I'm not going to let anything happen to him."  
"What about?" She couldn't finish. Nick pulled her to him and held her. "I'm not letting you go without me. I can find away to fight if it comes down to it."  
She pulled back and kissed him. She just hoped it wouldn't be the last time. They pulled apart and started to get some stuff together while they waited for Warrick.   
  
Twenty minutes later, Warrick pulled up their driveway. Nick and Sara were outside waiting for him. They got inside his vehicle and Warrick backed out. He looked at Nick. "I didn't call Grissom."  
"We didn't either. We don't think he needs to know about it." Nick told him.  
"We thought it would be best not to say anything to him or Catherine." Sara commented.  
Warrick knew that if something bad did happen and Catherine was there, Lindsey might lose her mother. Warrick didn't want that to happen.   
"Where do you think Greg would go first?" Nick asked. He stared out the window watching the world pass him by. 'Please let us survive this.' He prayed to himself.  
"My bet is one of the caves." Warrick told him. "We mentioned that last night."  
"But which one? How many caves are there in Nevada?" Sara asked.  
"I don't think that they would go too far from Vegas. So we'll check around the abandoned mines."   
Sara nodded and sat back in her seat. She out her side of the window and watched the cars go by. 'They don't have a clue.' Sara thought.   
  
Greg was able to find and sharpen plenty of sticks. He made sure he had enough. He also made sure that he had his ax with him. 'Just in case.' He thought to himself. He reached glanced at the clock. It read 8:05 p.m. The sky was getting darker by the minute. Soon the only light in the sky would be the moon and stars. He finally found his first stop. It was an old mine that was used to look for gold a long time ago. Now it's used as a home for bats and who knows what else. Greg stopped the car and gathered his bag. He got out and slung the bag over his shoulder. He took in a huge breath and grabbed his ax. He had his flashlight in his other hand. He released his breath and began walking toward the mine's entrance. He gave one final look at the sky and then walked inside the mine. His flashlight didn't help out too much, but he was able to see where to step. The air in the mine was at least ten or so degrees cooler than the outside. The air had a damp smell to it. He walked deeper and deeper into the mine. He heard a ruffling noise to his left. He quickly spun his flashlight to see if he could see what made that noise. A mouse ran past him. Greg's nerves were getting to him. "Great, I'm being spooked by Mickey." He told himself. He heard the noise again but ignored it thinking that it was just the mouse again. A shadow fell in behind him and carefully walked toward him. Greg reached the end of the mine. He turned around to find a set of dark purple eyes staring right back at him.  
  
"Can't you drive faster?" Sara asked. She was getting a very bad feeling.  
"Hey, I'm going 80!" Warrick called to her.   
"Sara, we don't want to have a wreck while we're trying to find Greg." Nick said. He quickly grasped onto the handle bar as Warrick's Tahoe swung around another SUV. "Jeepers Warrick, you're gonna kill us!!"  
Warrick didn't comment. He continued to dodge around cars praying that a cop wasn't in the area. Nick looked out the window. They were on the interstate in the far left lane. He saw the exit they needed coming up. "That's our exit."  
"Hold on." Warrick said and went from the far left lane to the far right lane. He swung in and out of the lanes until he got into the right one. Cars were blaring their horns at him but he didn't have time to worry about that. He turned on the exit and speed toward the next road. The light ahead just turned orange. Warrick's foot hit the gas pedal and slipped through the light right as it turned red. "Remind me never to let my children take driving lessons from you." Sara said.  
"Hey, you were the one who said I needed to go faster."  
Nick looked back at Sara and gave her a quick grin. She smiled back. They arrived at the old mine and saw Greg's car. "That was luck." Warrick said.  
"Let's go." Nick said. They quickly got out of the car and ran toward the entrance.   
  
Greg was so stunned by the creature's eyes; he forgot to move until the creature reached for him. Greg moved out of the way. The creature turned to him and opened his mouth to reveal very sharp looking fangs. Greg swung his ax but the creature was fast and caught it. It pulled the ax away from him and broke it half. Greg panicked. He did what his brain was screaming for him to do. Run! He ran as fast as he could. The vampyr continued to follow him. Greg took a quick glance behind him to see how far away it was. 'Not far enough.' Greg thought to himself. He turned around and stopped dead in his tracks. Five more vampyr stood before him. He was trapped. Greg pulled out two stakes and threw the bag down. "Let's see if all the countless hours I spent in front of the t.v. watching Buffy helps me any." He said. He gripped the stake in his hand and ran straight for one of them. He slammed the stake straight into the where he thought the creature's heart would be. Instead of bursting into dust like he hoped, the creature pulled the stake out and threw it down on the ground. "Damn." Greg said. The creature lunged for him.  
  
Warrick, Sara, and Nick ran in the mine looking for Greg. What they saw was the vampyr huddling around in a semi circle. Warrick thought he saw one of them jump. He then heard Greg scream. Without thinking, the three lunged toward the creatures. Warrick pulled his gun out and began to fire upon the creatures. He hoped Greg stayed out of the way. The vampyr turned their attention to the three intruders and began their attack. Warrick fired his weapon at the one coming at him. It hit the creature in the chest but the creature kept coming. Warrick shot it in the head and the creature went down and didn't get back up. "Shoot them in the head!" He shouted to the others.  
Nick wasn't as good with his left hand. In fact his aim was way off. He fired a shot into the vampyr that was coming toward him and missed the head by a couple of feet. Sara ran up beside and shot the creature. It went down. She looked at Nick. "Go help Greg. Warrick and I will try to cover you."  
Nick nodded and took off. He ran past the monsters and found Greg on the ground. He had a nasty cut along his stomach and arms. "Greg?" He bent down and touched him.  
Greg opened his eyes to see Nick staring at him. "Nick, what are you doing here?"  
"Saving your butt." Nick helped Greg stand up.   
"They don't die by shoving a stake through the heart." Greg informed him.  
"Maybe not, but shoot them in the head and they go down." He gave the younger man the gun. "I can't aim with my left hand."  
Greg grinned and decided it was payback time.   
  
Sara had no idea where all the vampyr were coming from. She didn't think there was this many when she came in. She shot each one that came at her in the head. She fired again and nothing happened. She was out of ammo. She also knew that it wouldn't be long before Warrick would be too. Another creature came at her. She threw the gun and hit it in the head. She knew there was no way she could go hand to hand with this thing. She had to find another weapon. "Greg!" She called out. "What weapons did you bring?"  
Greg heard her. "I brought stakes, but they don't work."  
That was better than being empty handed. "Where are they?"  
"In my bag along the wall."  
She took off toward the bag. A vampyr stood before her trying to stop her. She did the only thing she could think of. She charged right at it. She ran into it knocking them both down. She reached the bag and pulled out one of the stakes. The creature regained it's composure and swiped it's four long claws at her. They cut through her shirt causing her to back up. She took the stake and charged right at it. She slammed it right into the creature's eye. It crumpled to the ground. She took a quick moment to catch her breath. "Hey Greg, they work!"  
Greg smiled at her. "Sara the Vampyr Slayer!"  
She gave him a quick grin and helped out the others.   
  
Warrick ran out of bullets and was now using one of the stakes Greg made. He could feel every muscle in his body aching. "This was definitely not in my job description." He said. He ran to another creature and slammed the stake right into the creature's left eye. He turned around ready to fight another one, but noticed that there weren't any more left. He saw Nick, Sara, and Greg standing with the same look on their bruised and bloody faces. "Did we win?" Warrick asked.  
"I think so." Greg said. He looked at the bodies on the ground than back up at the others.  
Warrick walked over to them. "We did it." They shared a group hug. As soon as they pulled apart a bright light appeared in the mine. They had to cover their eyes. When the light died down, they saw Drakon standing before them. He had a grin on his face. "Well done." He told them. He held out his hand and a bright orange glow filled the room. When it disappeared all the bodies of the Vampyr were gone.   
Nick had no clue what was about to happen. Sara was on his left and Warrick was to his right, with Greg beside him. He knew they were as clueless as he was. Drakon looked at them each in turn. "Congratulations."  
"What for?" Warrick asked.   
"For defeating the Vampyr."  
"Wait, I'm confused. First you tell me that if we mess with them you were going to hurt us. Now you're telling us that you're proud of us?" Nick replied.   
"The Vampyr are a dangerous race. They couldn't be allowed to live any longer. I knew when I saw you all that you would be the ones to defeat them."  
"What, did we have slayers tattooed on our foreheads?" Greg asked.  
"Something like that." Drakon answered. He turned to walk off but Nick called to him. "Wait, where are you going?"  
"I'm going to protect others. I'm a protector you know."  
"That's the part I'm having trouble comprehending."  
"Nick, how is it that you think you got here tonight? There are a ton of mines in this area. Did you think it was by luck you found the one Greg was in?"  
"Well, actually yes."  
"I guided you all here. I'm the one that kept you from having an accident on the interstate. If not for my help, you three would be in a morgue somewhere."  
Sara looked over at Nick. She was beginning to be a little freaked out. This didn't go unnoticed by Drakon. "I protected you all, just like I'm sworn to do. Now I must go and protect others."  
"What about the Vampyr? Are they really gone?" Warrick asked.  
"Yes, thanks to your efforts they are now extinct." He looked over at Nick. "I'm sorry I gave you the run around, but if I would have told you the truth you wouldn't have destroyed them."  
"I tried to talk them out of it." Nick replied.  
"You did your part Nick. I'm very sorry about your arm."  
Nick nodded. "It's okay. I mean, I'm still confused but it's okay."  
"You aren't supposed to know everything that goes on in the universe. You're only responsible for the things you do know. Good-bye my friends." Drakon waved a good-bye and disappeared.   
Greg looked over at Warrick. "Okay, was he supposed to be an angel or something?"  
"I have no idea."   
"Um, I hate to spoil this weird moment, but we're late for work." Sara pointed out.  
"Great, we defeated an evil race only to be killed by Grissom." Nick said. They laughed and headed out of the mine. They got in their vehicles and took off toward work. Each one lost in their own thoughts.   
  
Grissom glanced down at his watch. It was way past time for his team to get there. He looked at Catherine and noticed that she had the same worried expression on her face. Grissom was about to try and dial their numbers again when he saw them come in. He didn't know whether to scream or hug them. 'Maybe I'll do both.' He thought to himself. "Where have you been?" Okay so scream it was.  
"Saving the world." Greg answered with a smile on his face.  
One by one they explained what happened leaving Grissom and Catherine to sit there stunned. After they finished their tale, Grissom shook his head. "I should have you all checked out at the psych ward."  
"Then you won't have the best CSI any more." Warrick replied.  
Grissom thought about that. "That's true, but the next time you decide to go off and save the world. Call me."  
They smiled and looked at Grissom. "Deal."   
"Good, now let's get to work." Grissom happily gave out their assignments. He was grateful he still had his team. He watched as the walked out one by one and thought to himself that life would have been pretty lonely without them around. Catherine squeezed his arm and they walked out of the break room ready to tackle the next case.  
  
~Finished~ 


End file.
